Vol. XIII 
No. 10 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY BULLETIN 



September 
1915 



A DISTRICT CONFERENCE HELD 
AT GARY ON 



HISTORY TEACHING IN THE 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 





Held under the auspices of the 

Indiana University Extension Division 

Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27, 1915 



ftlonograph 



For sale by the University Bookstore, Bloomington, Ind. Price 50 cents. 

A limited number of copies of this Bulletin will be distributed free of charge to citizens of Indiana. 



Entered as second-class mail matter March 2, 1914, at the postoffice at Blc. >mington, 
Indiana, under the act of August 24, 1912. Published from the University offici. Bloom- 
ington, Indiana, semimonthly January, February, March, April, May, and Juv a, and 
monthly July, August, September, October, November, and December. 




^No '^o" I INDIANA UNIVERSITY BULLETIN | Sf.i-™er 

A DISTRICT CONFERENCE HELD 
AT GARY ON 

HISTORY TEACHING IN THE 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



cd^^. 



I9i;r 




Held under the auspices of the 

Indiana University Extension Division 

Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27, 1915 



Bloomington, Ind. 

Published by the Extension Division of 

Indiana University 



l.(p 

01 



Table of Contents 



I. SOME PRACTICAL TEACHING PROBLEMS IN HISTORY 

PAGE 

Well-Directed Reading in History. By Lena M. Johnson, Depart- 
ment of History, Plymouth High School 7 

Constructive Notebook Work in History, By Shepherd Leffler, 
Head of Department of History, South Bend High School . . 14 

The Dramatizing of History Material (Abstract). By Charity 
Dye, formerly of the Shortridge High School, Indianapolis . . 20 

Vitalizing History Work. By R. D. Chadwick, Head of Depart- 
ment of History, Emerson School, Gaiy 23 

IL STANDARDS IN HISTORY AND CIVICS FOR SECONDARY 

SCHOOLS 



The Nature and Method of History. By Samuel B. Harding, 
Professor of European History, Indiana University .... 



Social Emphasis in History Instruction (Abstract). By H. G 
Childs, Associate Pi'ofessor of Education, Indiana University 

Standards of Value for Community Civics. By D. W. Horton 
Principal of High School, Mishawaka 



Realizable Educational Values in History. By Calvin O. Davis 
Junior Professor of Education, University of Michigan . . 



44 



5.5 



59 



74 



Standards for Judging Instruction in History. By Oscar H. 
Williams, Assistant Professor of Education, Indiana University 103 



(2) 



Foreword 



As A part of its public service activities, during the first 
half of the school year, 1914-15, the Extension Division, in 
cooperation with the Department of History, extended to the 
teachers in the public schools of the State a consultation serv- 
ice on teaching problems in history. This work, which was 
in charge of Assistant Professor Oscar H. Williams, was de- 
signed to meet the needs of history teachers who desire direc- 
tion in the study of methods and in the analysis of the results 
of their teaching. 

As an outgrowth of the work, and as a means of reaching 
a considerable number of high school teachers and of facili- 
tating the study of the problems of their field by the teachers 
themselves, the Conference on History Teaching in Secondary 
Schools was organized. It was held in the Emerson School 
at Gary on February 26 and 27, 1915. Its purpose was two- 
fold; first, to consider some of the more vital and concrete 
problems in the everyday teaching of history in high schools, 
and secondly, to define standards for measuring the worth of 
courses of study and methods of teaching history in the 
schools. 

The Gary public schools proved an interesting and appro- 
priate setting for the conference. Contrary to the usual prac- 
tice in these widely advertised schools, they were open to the 
visiting teachers on the days of the conference. A consid- 
erable number of principals and teachers of history of northern 
Indiana high schools was present all or most of the two days 
of the conference. 

As an important adjunct to the conference, an exhibit of 
visualizing apparatus for teaching history was displayed in 
the library of the Emerson school. The exhibit was collected 
by Mr.. M. J. Thue, of the East Chicago high school, and was 
under his personal charge during the meeting. It was visited 
by many of the teachers and principals who were in attendance 
at the conference. 

On the afternoon of Friday, February 26, the conference 
assembled in the music room of the Emerson school at 2:30 

(3) 



4 Indiana University 

p.m. It was called to order by Principal John W. Rittinger, 
of Laporte, who presided over the afternoon session. Miss 
Mayme Brown, of the East Chicago high school, was made 
secretary of the meeting. 

The chairman presented Mr. E. A. Spaulding, principal of 
the Emerson school, who, in the absence of Superintendent 
Wirt, of the Gary schools, extended a welcome to the visiting 
teachers and in a short talk set forth the essential ideas in 
the Gary plan of school organization. 

Professor Samuel B. Harding, of Indiana University, was 
then introduced, and presented an interesting paper on the 
European war. He dealt in an intimate manner with the com- 
plex situation which, in the last days of July, 1914, led to the 
eruption which was the beginning of "the greatest war in 
history." He traced the diplomatic relations which culminated 
in the catastrophe, and reviewed the military and naval devel- 
opments of the first six months of the war. His paper was 
closely followed and cordially applauded. It is a matter of 
regret that space forbids its publication in this report. 

Miss Lena M. Johnson, of the Plymouth high school, was 
then presented by the chairman, and read a valuable paper 
on the subject, "Well Directed Reading in History." The 
paper is printed in full in the body of this report. Mr. Shep- 
herd Leffler followed with a profitable paper on "Constructive 
Notebook Work in History." Most of the paper appears in 
the report which follows. Miss Charity Dye, who was for 
many years teacher of English in Shortridge high school, 
Indianapolis, then gave a talk on the problem of "Dramatizing 
History Materials." She presented the claims of dramatic 
modes of representing history in the schools, and gave especial 
attention to the possibilities of pageantry work as a means of 
civic and social education. She made an appeal for more atten- 
tion to the educative side of pageantry in connection with the 
approaching centennial of the State. An abstract of her talk 
is given in this report. 

The afternoon session closed with a paper read by Mr. 
R. D. Chadwick, of the Emerson school, Gary, on "Vitalizing 
History Work." This paper appears in full in the report below 
and is a review of the work actually done in the history depart- 
ment of this school. It was one of the most suggestive and 
profitable papers of the meeting. 

The conference adjourned at six o'clock and assembled in 



History Teaching in High Schools 5 

the dining-room of the Emerson school. Here a dinner was 
served by the domestic science department of the school. 

At eight o'clock, the members of the conference met in 
the auditorium of the school. They were entertained and 
instructed here by two contrasting types of visualized modes 
of presenting historical material. The first of these was an 
illustrated lecture by Professor Samuel B. Harding, on "The 
Medieval Castle." The second was a demonstration of mov- 
ing pictures by a representative of the Nicholas Power Com- 
pany of New York. Professor Harding's lecture was a stimu- 
lating account of the development of the medieval castle 
from the simple forms of the days of the Carolingian rulers 
to the elaborate fortress of the later Middle Ages. It was 
profusely illustrated by a series of slides taken from the res- 
torations by Viollet-le-Duc. These slides represent that judi- 
cious selection of carefully tested subjects such as should 
characterize the teaching of history. The demonstration of 
the moving pictures, while excellent of its kind, served to em- 
phasize some of the dangers which attend this form of visual- 
ized instruction in history. Several films were shown, includ- 
ing that of the well-known story of Mary Stuart, and in every 
case both the staging and dramatic presentation revealed a 
lack of historical accuracy and genuineness. On the whole, 
the stories which were presented proved entertaining bits of 
historical fiction ; but as serious representations of historical 
truth their value is questionable. 

The session on Saturday morning was devoted to a con- 
sideration of "Standards in History and Civics for Secondary 
Schools." Professor Harding read the first paper of the morn- 
ing on "The Nature and Method of History." He dealt with 
the scientific aspects of the subject of history, its method of 
analysis and criticism of the documents, its suspension of the 
judgment, and its mode of arriving at the truth. The paper 
appears in full in this pamphlet. Mr. D. W. Horton, principal 
of the Mishawaka high school, followed with a discussion of 
"Standards of Value for Community Civics." The paper was 
a careful presentation of the need for civic training and an 
evaluation of the materials at hand for the purpose. It was 
abundantly illustrated by concrete examples drawn from the 
course given in the Mishawaka high school. The paper is 
given in full below. Professor H. G. Childs, of Indiana Uni- 
versity, then gave a talk upon "Social Emphasis in History 



6 Indiana University 

Instruction." His paper is presented in abstract. Professor C. 
0. Davis, of the University of Michigan, presented one of the 
most vakiable papers of the conference on "Standards of Value 
for High School History." He gave a careful analysis of the 
aims in history teaching and evaluated the various fields of 
history for the ends in view. His paper is printed in full. The 
paper of Assistant Professor 0. H. Williams, of Indiana Uni- 
versity, on "Standards for Judging Instruction in History," 
was omitted for want of time but is printed in full below. 

The conference was adjourned after a brief general discus- 
sion of the papers. 



Conference on History Teaching in the 
Secondary Schools 



I. 

SOME PRACTICAL TEACHING PROBLEMS IN HISTORY 

WELL-DIRECTED READING IN HISTORY 

By Lena M. Johnson, 
Department of History, Plymouth High School. 

We teachers of the social sciences — history and civics — 
find ourselves today in the presence of a colossal problem. To 
us it is given to transform the thoughtless, heedless, care-free 
boys and girls, who come to us untaught, into useful, efficient, 
patriotic citizens, whose services shall bring profit to their 
community and reflect credit upon the institutions which send 
them forth. As we face this great task, we cannot eternally 
project ourselves into the future, to stand beside the finished 
product of our labors, and glory in his achievement. That is 
good to do, and it is well to have it done often. It widens 
the horizon and expands the dome above us, till trivial things 
assume their right proportions, while the vital forces take 
their more prominent places in our work. 

But now we must stand on this side of our problem and try 
to see its solution so clearly and so plainly that the finished 
product, as we see him in imagination, must be the logical 
answer to the processes by which we have proceeded. 

Remembering that the kind of man we are trying to create 
is the man who can take his place among thoughtful citizens, 
and be prepared to render his share of efficient service, let 
us stop a moment to see our way. What are the things he will 
need as his equipment? What are the impulses, ideals, and 
powers which we must endeavor, thru our history courses, 
so deeply to implant, that they shall be his ready tools when 
his need for them arises? I feel that he will have much 
use for these things : a fund of information ; a spirit of tolera- 
tion; an independent judgment; a long look ahead; ideals of 

(7) 



8 Indiana University 

liberty and self-government; the ability to use books effect- 
ively. And I feel that his study of the social sciences should 
give him this equipment. 

In the face of some of our most radical modern critics, 
who assert that pupils do not retain one-tenth of one percent 
of all historical facts studied, I still insist with Prof. Mc- 
Laughlin that one of the chief aims of historical study is "the 
acquisition of a valuable store of information." For if the 
student continues to live among the civilized and thoughtful 
of the earth, his daily newspaper, his magazine, and even his 
fiction will ever be testing and reviewing this information, and 
demanding that he have it, and we all know that he cannot 
make adequate use of those everyday companions without the 
illumination which comes from familiarity with the facts to 
which they so constantly refer. His history study gives him 
these facts, and with this illumination he is able to under- 
stand more clearly the life of which he is a part, to see more 
surely the tendency of modern movements, and to penetrate 
more keenly the intricacies of the problems with which he 
himself is confronted. So let us not be dissuaded from asking 
the pupil to know. It is a profound force in making the child 
into the citizen. "The common sense of mankind rightly 
adjudges praise to the man having a rich store of information," 
writes Dr. Hinsdale. 

But besides this, I see clearly that our work is only begun 
when the pupil merely knows his facts. No boy should leave 
any history course without having developed some big, broad 
ideas and ideals which come from association with the work 
of great souls. He must no longer be the narrow, intolerant, 
bigoted sectarian which we found him at the beginning of his 
study. The great spirit of Roger Williams must overwhelm 
him and make him ashamed to be less tolerant. If he has 
looked with you seriously at the problem facing Louis XIV 
at the death of Colbert and asked soberly whether Louis did 
wisely in abandoning the reforms begun and adopting a policy 
of conquest and glory, if you have asked him to meet in 
thought many such problems and present a solution with 
reason, he will come forth with a judgment which will help to 
prepare him to grapple with his own smaller questions. Not 
only this, but, thru his efforts to solve the history problems 
for himself, he will have developed an imagination which will 
enable him to take the long look ahead, to construct, out in 



History Teaching in High Schools 9 

the future, his problem and to see its solution, and this great 
thing must always be done by the men who think in order that 
our people may progress. For as a ''man's god is no greater 
than himself," so a nation's advance is no greater than the 
clear visions of her constructive statesmen. 

Then again, the American boy must, thru all his history 
study, acquire firm and permanent ideas of the significance of 
political liberty and self-government. He must see the great 
superiority of his privileges and duties, as an American, over 
the democrat of Athens, the republican of Rome, or even the 
parliamentarian of England whose efforts wrung the Magna 
Charta or the Bill of Rights from an unwilling monarch. The 
Stars and Stripes must mean to him privilege, and power, and 
sacred duty. 

As aids by which we may help our boy to attain these 
great ends, I wish to speak of one or two things which seem 
to me to be of first importance. He must love the subject; 
but, of course, he will do that. Every normal child does love 
history, unless we have blundered unpardonably in the presen- 
tation of it. He loves it because it is so human and so alive. 
Unless we get in his way, and, by our stupidity, crush the life 
and soul out of the story he has visualized, there will be no 
question of his love and interest. Our business here is to help 
^nm make alive the story he has read and not to get "under- 
foot," to add, with delight and enthusiasm, those details which 
make the picture complete, to keep the work alive and vital, 
and, cf course, to love it ourselves. We must leave no stone 
unturned whose overturning will bring any inspiration to the 
boy to do his part of the work well, for so, thru his own efforts, 
he will i.ave added to the pleasure of the story the greater 
joy of personal achievement. Then, too, thru doing his work 
well he will have learned two valuable lessons. He will have 
learned the use of books, a life-long benefit, and he will have 
acquired the capacity to assemble material, organize it, and 
put it forth again. These powers will render him rich service, 
as long as he is called upon to read and to think. 

You will be more patient with me now, while I speak of 
a single phase of our work which has perplexed us all, more 
or less, viz., the reading work in history. What is it that we 
are doing? What are we asking of the thousands of children 
before us ? Is it another of the clever devices by which shrewd 
teachers waste the time of faithful students and invite care- 



10 Indiana University 

less, dishonest work from those who are less faithful ? Is this 
vague reading an easy way to meet college requirements for 
some extensive work? Is it a method by which we can salve 
our professional consciences, while we explain to our superiors 
or outsiders that our classes are doing five hundred pages of 
collateral reading a year? We wonder. It is so easy to do it 
this way! It is so commonly done with no greater care or 
direction than to order the five hundred pages to be read ! I 
know a large school in Illinois whose senior class is annually 
commanded to return a report of five hundred pages read. 
This is their only direction! It is required because, as the 
teacher told me, "They will have long lessons to read in the 
university, and I don't want them swamped." What is the 
result? You know, of course. They flounder about in a big 
library long hours, trying to find something readable, then 
at the last moment before the report is due, rush over the 
pages of the nearest volume, make a few notes which mean 
nothing to them nor to their instructor, turn in their report, 
and sit back relieved, for they are now prepared to meet the 
demands of university courses. Now if this, or anything simi- 
lar to it, is our method, our work is worse than wasted, and 
our crime is not to be lightly condoned. 

But why should we ask the child to read? What do we 
want him to achieve? It seems to me that, college or no col- 
lege, we want to train him to read, so that he shall like the 
well-written things that he finds! Then, we want him to 
learn how to find in the books those things which he will like, 
and, finally, after he has gone to those books, and found the 
thing he would like to read, we want him to read it with suffi- 
cient care to be able to come back to us and tell us what he 
found. It seems to me that these three things should be ever 
before us in directing the student's reading: to help him learn 
what he likes, to show him how to find that in the books, and 
then to let him tell us what he found. I hear the cry of dis- 
tress that long-suffering teachers send us as they stand before 
the mountain of work I have reared for them, but to have 
taught one hundred or more boys and girls those three vital 
things in a year is compensation for a vast deal of labor. And 
that is our problem. 

Certain limitations insert themselves between our ideals 
and the actual results which we are able to achieve. The 
libraries at our command always contain many histories, but 



History Teaching in High Schools 11 

often very few volumes that our pupils can read with either 
pleasure or profit. Only a few rare souls in the world of 
history-makers have learned how to tell the truth without 
making it as deadly as the proverbial "two-edged sword." 
There is hope ahead, however, for our greatest living history 
scholars are now seeing the need of telling the story attract- 
ively and well, as well as of telling the truth. We are now 
putting their books on our shelves, and it gives us new inspira- 
tion. Just for a moment, contrast mentally Lodge's account 
of the Virginia settlement, with its tedious governors and 
laws and dates, with Eggleston's chapter on the same subject. 
Eggleston compels you to forget time and place, and makes 
you live with his people. You rejoice, or hope, or anxiously 
wait, or you suffer and despair, as their fortunes are good, 
indifferent, or ill. How gladly you send students to read those 
stories and how carefully you tell them to omit those terrible 
chapters in Lodge, when you send them to read the good ones 
in the same volume! This limitation of uninteresting truth 
is a serious one, and has wrought much havoc, but happily it 
is a passing one. 

Another limitation which stands in the way of accomplish- 
ing our ends is the want of free time in which the instructor 
may more thoroly and carefully plan and direct the reading. 
This limitation we fondly, tho perhaps vainly, hope is also a 
passing one. 

Then there are two limitations which I would voluntarily 
place upon all required reading. The amount of it should be 
limited, and it should never be assigned without purpose. The 
reasons for my position are obvious. If the child is to like 
what he reads — and that is our aim — he must not be repelled 
by the mass of it. And if he is not to do his work in a slovenly 
manner, he must see the reason for doing it otherwise, even 
tho he likes what he reads. 

The more attractive side of the question of history reading 
appears when we look at the possibilities which it affords. 
Broad reading is the avenue by which the pupil frees himself 
from a single author's mind. He develops his own judgment 
of questions, and learns to place his own interpretation on 
the events of which he reads. He feels more fully the right to 
have an opinion that has not been recited to him by another, 
and when he reaches that point he has gone a long way toward 
effective and intelligent citizenship. 



12 Indiana University 

In the larger reading, he finds that subjects are more fully 
treated, details are included which make the picture alive, 
characters are described so that they become living, hoping, 
fearing men, and then come interest in the reading, and love 
for it. Send the pupils to read Motley's chapter on "The Siege 
of Leyden" and note the result, if you doubt that interest can 
be aroused. And to secure a permanent interest in his reading, 
one which will carry him on after the course in school is fin- 
ished, is the highest possibility toward which we may aspire. 
In that would come the partial solution, at least, of one of our 
greatest social problems. We ask, half in despair, what shall 
we do with our young people? How shall we keep them out 
of the streets ? What can replace the exhausting social activi- 
ties which endanger their health and impede their intellectual 
progress? I cannot say that the child's reading will answer 
these questions, but I do believe that the right material, wisely 
introduced to him, will do much toward making him content 
with less of the out-of-home amusements. . . . 

May I add a few suggestions as to the means by which the 
work in reading may be practically carried on in our classes? 
To arouse interest, I know of no better beginning than to read 
to the class those well-written selections which enlarge his 
knowledge and clarify his picture of the event which is being 
studied. For example, think what force a good reading of 
Spartacus to the Gladiators will lend to the study of the servile 
revolt in Rome ! Or imagine, if you can, any more vivid or 
effective way of explaining the evils of the slave trade than 
by reading A Cargo of Black Ivory! We need to remember 
that our boys and girls often do not even know of the existence 
of these standard selections of thrilling historic interest. It is 
our privilege to introduce to them this store of good things. 

I would often ask the pupil to prepare, from definitely as- 
signed reading, a short talk which would serve the same pur- 
pose as the reading by the teacher, the illumination of some 
point under consideration. He should stand before the class 
to present his work. The need for training in public speaking 
is so pressing that we cannot afford to neglect for the child a 
single opportunity in this direction. 

A less valuable method, but one which reaches a large 
number of pupils at the same time, is to assign definite read- 
ing in several volumes and ask the pupils to return a brief 
outline of the points discussed. Questions from the outline 
will readily test the accuracy or the honesty of the work. 



History Teaching in High Schools 13 

The making of brief bibliographies on carefully chosen sub- 
jects is a type of work which has value, not only as prepara- 
tion for college study, but also in training the student to inves- 
tigate any subject in an effective way. Here he learns to use 
the mechanics of the library. Accuracy is the fundamental 
factor in this work, and must be insisted upon. After the 
bibliographies are made, the students may exchange them. 
Then, from another's list, the reading is done and the report 
is made to the class. This I have found interesting and effect- 
ive work. 

Sometimes the student is asked to write a story whose 
setting is in ancient Egypt or Athens or early Germany. He 
must read a fair amount, and with good judgment and under- 
standing, or his story will fail utterly in reality. He is quick 
to perceive the incongruity of modern factors placed in his 
ancient story, and so is keen to see that his knowledge of 
details is insufficient to maintain consistency. 

If we keep in mind the great aim with which we set out 
— the making of an efficient citizen — we shall add, as one of 
the most important of the things required, a study of maga- 
zines. Here is the discussion of the topics of which men are 
talking and thinking, the living lessons, yet to be learned, 
the baffling problems, yet to be solved. The boy needs to 
begin to read and think of these things while still a boy; for 
with this reading and thinking, he is making himself a better 
companion, because he has a basis for intelligent conversa- 
tion; he is developing independent judgments of public men, 
policies, and parties ; he is cultivating a liking for good reading 
along all lines, and he is acquiring the ability to take hold 
of these great questions with intelligence, and to take his 
place among the thinkers who are finding their answers. 

So, if we see our work as history teachers in its true pro- 
portions, we must feel that it is a great thing to do. And the 
conviction that the thing we do is of vital worth and that the 
world needs to have it done, and well done, brings us our great- 
est inspiration. To feel that we have had some part in creat- 
ing a finer, higher type of citizenship, capable of meeting the 
complex demands which the coming decade will make upon it, 
will in itself be our reward. Let us believe with G. Stanley 
Hall that the "study of the times that tried men's souls tends 
to form souls capable of enduring trial," and then we shall 
rightly feel that our opportunities and our influences are as 
far-reaching as the farthest expansion of the human mind. 



14 Indiana University 

CONSTRUCTIVE NOTEBOOK WORK IN HISTORY 
(Abridged) 

By Shepherd Leffler, 
Head of Department of History in South Bend High School. 

The problem of the history notebook is a difficult one. 
Professor Bourne, in his volume on The Teaching of History 
and Civics, says that the use of notebooks is the most difficult 
of all. Some teachers cut the Gordian knot by dispensing with 
the history notebook altogether, others use it in moderate 
measure, while still others place the same emphasis upon the 
use of the history notebook that is placed on the laboratory 
notebook by the science teacher. The question arises: What 
is the value of keeping a history notebook ? What should the 
notebook contain? What are the mechanical processes to be 
observed in the general makeup of the notebook ? 

One school of history teachers are most enthusiastic in its 
praise and insist upon its extensive use. According to this class 
the value of the notebook is indisputable. Its use is strongly 
advised, they say, by all committees which have investigated 
teaching methods and made suggestions for the improvement 
thereof. If we admit the value and necessity of collateral 
reading, then the use of the notebook follows as a matter of 
course, for in no way is it possible to secure permanent results 
from outside reading other than by having the pupils record 
outlines, digests, or analyses in their notebooks. Again, it is 
urged that practice in written work in the condensation of 
outside reading develops the power of analysis upon the part 
of the pupil who is forced to extract the main ideas from a 
reference book. In addition, by collecting certain other data 
or by arranging or classifying under appropriate heads and 
subheads certain facts, and by recording his interpretation of 
certain source materials, the pupil is learning to write history 
himself. Then, too, they urge that a carefully prepared and 
arranged notebook will tend to develop in the pupil habits of 
neatness, order, precision, and thoroness, so often found lack- 
ing in the secondary school pupil. 

As to the kind of notebook, it is agreed that it should be 
one of the loose-leaf variety so that the material may be 
rearranged or classified at will. The notes should be of two 
general kinds: first, those of a more formal nature prepared 
out of class and written in ink ; secondly, those of an informal 



History Teaching in High Schools 15 

nature taken down in class and consisting of odds and ends, 
of bits of information or observations that are brought out 
during the recitation period. These informal notes should 
occupy a separate section of the notebook and may be written 
in either pencil or ink. 

In the organization of the notes a uniform system should 
be followed. The relative importance of different ideas or 
topics must be indicated. The work may be done by a plan of 
indenting the topics and subtopics, but a better way is to make 
use of a regular system of letters and figures. The one most 
used is to designate the main headings by Roman numerals; 
those of next importance by capital letters; those of lower 
rank by Arabic numerals, and then small letters, following 
with an alternation of numerals and letters as far as necessary. 
Often the relative importance or proper emphasis may be better 
shown by underscoring, but there is danger that too much 
underlining may be indulged in with the result that all em- 
phasis is lost. Every outline, abstract, or exercise in the for- 
mal part of the notebook should be accompanied or rather 
preceded with the exact reference or source of the material as 
to author, title, edition, volume, and page. By using marginal 
notebook paper the different page references may be placed 
in the accompanying margin. 

What, then, should this more formal part of the notebook 
contain? The most zealous would place therein outlines or 
abstracts of collateral reading in secondary authorities; syn- 
opses of brief selections of source material; analyses of the 
text ; notes on outside matter dictated in class ; summaries 
of periods; chronological tables and various kinds of written 
work, such as brief compositions representing original investi- 
gation or thought, or comparisons made by the pupil, from 
material found in the text or otherwise, or answers to ques- 
tions based on secondary or source material. Some would go 
even further and add outline maps or charts or graphic repre- 
sentations prepared by the pupil, also illustrative documents, 
such as specimen warrants, ballots, and legal forms, and finally 
newspaper clippings or extracts bearing upon current prob- 
lems. 

After the material has been collected it should be properly 
arranged and indexed. A table of contents should be drawn 
up showing the title of each article and the page on which it 
is to be found. 



16 Indiana University 

As to the length or volume of such a notebook there is 
little guidance as yet. The New York State Board of Educa- 
tion has prepared a rather elaborate history syllabus which 
the secondary high schools are required to follow. This sylla- 
bus requires a notebook containing at least thirty exercises 
in one case and fifty exercises in another. 

Some of the colleges have also specified a certain require- 
ment as to quantity. Thus Harvard requires that the candi- 
date for entrance must present a notebook of fifty pages on 
each field of history offered for entrance credit. Columbia 
University asks for five thousand words of notes on the ad- 
vanced history courses offered for entrance and none at all on 
the elementary courses. Most of the other colleges, however, 
including Princeton, Cornell, Chicago, Northwestern, and Indi- 
ana, are silent upon the question of notebook requirement. Ap- 
parently the colleges and universities have not as yet arrived 
at any definite conclusions as to the advisability of requiring 
the presentation of a formal notebook as concrete evidence of 
the character of history work done in the secondary school. 

Such, then, is the plan of a history notebook urged by the 
most ambitious of its advocates, and it will be readily seen 
that such an ideal would require a very industrious and zealous 
instructor to carry it thru. It is one thing to say how a his- 
tory notebook should be constructed, and it is quite another 
problem to get a class or several classes to construct it in 
accordance with that ideal. 

Another class of history teachers would solve the notebook 
problem either by dispensing with it altogether or at most 
by placing very little emphasis upon it. 

Foremost among the recent critics of present methods of 
teaching history is William McDonald, Professor of American 
History at Brown University. His critical attitude has been 
developed by the experience gained from being for several 
years a member of the College Entrance Examination Board. 
In an article published in the June, 1914, number of Education, 
he makes a sweeping attack upon collateral reading and by 
inference this is an attack upon the use of the notebook, since 
the use of the latter is closely connected with collateral read- 
ing. He says that for the last fifteen years the colleges, 
teachers' associations, and other bodies, including the College 
Entrance Examination Board, have been making strenuous 
efforts to carry into effect the recommendations as to methods 



History Teaching in High Schools 17 

advised by the Committee of Seven. "Yet the net result of 
all this effort is the verdict of the Committee of Review of 
the College Entrance Examination Board that the examina- 
tions in history set by the Board show the largest percentage 
of failures of any set by that body and that a reconsideration 
of the history requirement must, apparently, soon be under- 
taken if a higher percentage of pass marks is not forthcom- 
ing," he says. 

Other objections are frequently urged against the exten- 
sive use of the notebook. It is claimed, for example, that 
notebook work, far from developing in the student powers of 
original thinking, critical judgment, and the power of keen 
analysis, degenerates into a mere routine or mechanical 
process in which the pupil laboriously copies notes, abstracts, 
digests, and outlines with the single aim in view of filling so 
many pages, and finishing as soon as possible what to him 
is an irksome burden and a "kill-joy." Some pupils spend 
upon their notebooks an amount of time and labor dispropor- 
tionate to the value obtained and think they deserve great 
credit and reward when all they have really done is to copy 
in a neat, legible hand and with no great exercise of mental 
power a few of the ideas contained in an outside reference. 

Then there is the argument of the overworked history 
teacher with five or six classes a day and nothing to do every 
vacant moment but to continue the never-ending, laborious 
grind of looking over and correcting the notebooks of from 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty pupils. This dull routine 
of checking notebooks consumes a vast amount of time and 
energy that might be much better employed by the teacher 
gaining fresh knowledge of the subject and thus adding life 
and richness to the course. The history teacher is expected 
to read widely, deeply, and continuously ; but How, asks the 
overworked teacher, can this be done when the time is so 
largely taken up in the dull routine of examining history note- 
books, to say nothing of tests, examinations, and other writ- 
ten work? 

Moreover, if the teacher is not conscientious and does not 
honestly look over, correct, and grade the notebooks, the effect 
is bad upon the pupil, who is quick to detect the slackness of 
the teacher and soon learns to take advantage of it. The 
result is careless, superficial work which is worse in its effects 
upon the pupil than no work at all. It is often a common fault 



18 Indiana University 

of young teachers fresh from college to try to introduce the 
college standards and requirements into the high school with 
the result that more work is assigned than the student can 
honestly do or the teacher properly correct. 

What, then, are the conclusions of this paper as to the 
proper use of a history notebook ? Personally, I must be frank 
to confess that it is as yet an unsettled problem with me. 
While I do not take the extreme view of those who claim 
that the notebook should be discarded as failing to bring 
results commensurate with the time and effort expended, 
neither on the other hand do I agree with those zealous and 
ambitious teachers who would exalt the notebook to the place 
of first honor among the methods advocated to advance the 
teaching of history. I would favor its moderate use. On the 
one hand, it has its merits. Notwithstanding the sweeping 
objection to collateral reading referred to above in the article 
by Professor McDonald, I believe in the value of collateral 
reading to broaden the view and to supplement the too-often 
brief treatment in the text. If such collateral reading is 
offered, then the use of notes follows, for in no other way 
can we secure a proper check upon that reading. 

A notebook may be put to a valuable use by entering such 
material as will show the continuity or development of a ques- 
tion or institution. Thus we may enter in the notebook for 
American history certain headings or topics such as tariff, 
slavery, State sovereignty, territorial growth, nationalism, sec- 
tionalism, treaties, Monroe Doctrine, etc., and then under each 
head we may collect the different phases of those questions 
as they arise in the course of study. By this method it is 
possible to get a continuous view of the topic in all its devel- 
opments. 

Quite recently there seems to be a strong movement to 
dwell at greater length upon current questions and present- 
day problems. . . . This study of current questions may, 
I think, be made very instructive and interesting by the use 
of some high-grade weekly magazine as the Independent, 
Outlook, or Literary Digest. I have used the Independent as 
a supplementary text in civics with very good results. There 
is no excuse for a pupil graduating from high school 
and knowing more about an act of the English Parliament 
passed three hundred years ago than he does about the recent 
Immigration bill or the Ship-Purchase bill. Also a student 



History Teaching in High Schools 19 

living in a city in Indiana should know what problems are 
engaging the people of his own city or State. A pupil should 
know how the legislature of his own State is attempting to 
deal with the questions of woman suffrage, State-wide prohi- 
bition, capital punishment, direct primary, race-track betting, 
and labor betterment as well as know the historical back- 
ground of these questions. 

In connection with the above-mentioned current problems 
the notebook may play an important part. In it may be placed, 
under appropriate headings of local, State, national, or inter- 
national affairs, the abstracts, digests, or outlines of articles 
taken from current magazines. The magazines and some of 
the newspapers of a conservative type have excellent articles 
that may be clipped entire and the clippings made a permanent 
part of the notebook. Thus the notebook may be made the 
means of gathering together material from many sources 
and of present-day significance. 

On the other hand, caution must be used in the applica- 
tion of the notebook. If we lay too much emphasis upon it 
and overload the pupil with notebook work there is little to 
be gained. The teacher should not assign more tasks than 
it is practical to correct and grade for the pupil will soon learn 
to take advantage of that fact. 

Also, care must be taken that notebook work does not be- 
come a mere mechanical routine of copying extracts or mak- 
ing outlines that call for little exercise of the power of critical 
judgment or historical analysis. It is not uncommon to find 
that what the average student so dislikes in connection with 
both English and history courses is the excessive amount of 
dry notebook work that some teachers appear to delight in 
introducing into their courses. 

I believe, also, that much might be gained if the courses 
in history were readjusted and greater emphasis placed upon 
a more limited field such as was suggested in the preliminary 
recommendation of a committee of the National Education As- 
sociation. We skim too large a surface. If the field were 
delimited and a great mass of facts of little or no significance 
were boldly omitted and more emphasis placed on the larger 
questions, more would be gained. Too brief a treatment of 
so many topics fails to leave with the pupil any impression at 
all unless it is supplemented by extensive collateral reading. 
But it is out of the question for the high school pupil to do 



20 Indiana University 

such extensive outside reading and do the amount of note- 
book work that would go along with that collateral reading. 

Before satisfactory collateral reading and notebook work 
can be done, there must be available the absolutely neces- 
sary library facilities. But how many schools have the 
requisite library equipment in the way of good, readable, 
authoritative works in history? How many schools have 
enough duplicate copies of the best secondary authorities ? It 
is worse than useless to turn a large class or several classes 
loose on one book or two or three copies of a book. It is a 
well-grounded excuse of many history teachers that they 
cannot carry out collateral reference work and notebook work 
for the lack of the necessary tools of history instruction. 

Notebook work might be facilitated, especially as regards 
its being used as a test for outside reference material in col- 
lege entrance examinations, if the colleges were able to come 
to some agreement as to the kind and amount of collateral 
reading that should be emphasized. As matters now stand 
there is no such standard. Without exception the colleges 
make no recommendation as to the kind of collateral reading 
or notebook work and only in few cases, as Harvard and 
Columbia, specify any definite amount of collateral reading or 
extent of notebook work. 

It is, then, the conclusion of this paper that the history 
notebook still remains an unsettled problem. While it should 
not be entirely dispensed with as one side would advocate, 
neither should it be overdone as others would emphasize. It 
has its merits and its disadvantages. To strike the proper 
balance should be the endeavor of the history instructor. 

THE DRAMATIZING OF HISTORY MATERIAL (Abstract) 

By Charity Dye, 
Formerly of Shortridge High School, Indianapolis. 

"The dramatizing of history material consists in trans- 
lating any scene or event belonging to the past or present into 
the terms of objective reality thru the means of setting, cos- 
tume, words, action, and symbolism." Since any single element 
of dramatized material may be considered a unit of pageantry, 
she spoke of the pageant, the whole, which explains the parts. 

School pageantry in Indiana at the present time is highly 
important. An educative preparation along this line is essen- 



History Teaching in High Schools 21 

tial for the celebration of the Statehood Centennial next year, 
and the apathy which exists in many schools with reference 
to the history of Indiana is lamentable. The idea now in the 
minds of many school authorities that "Something can be 
done at the last moment to make a fine showing" is unworthy 
of educators and shows not only a lack of the professional 
spirit but savors of the element of sensationalism that deprives 
whatever might be done of its serious educational value. The 
time element is considered of the utmost importance for the 
producing of a school pageant, which deals with children who 
have so little background of experience, comparatively no his- 
torical perspective, and are besides busily engaged with the 
various tasks of the regular school work. She illustrated this 
point of time by her experience in school pageantry and 
claimed that a whole year was little enough time for the 
presentation of a school pageant that would be truly educative 
to the school children taking part. ^ 

A pageant that claims the effort and time of school chil- 
dren should meet the requirements of all pageants in revealing 
a community or State to all the people therein. "A pageant 
represents the stream of life belonging to a given situation, 
and hence is largely a community affair participated in not 
only by the school children but by their elders and friends 
joined in a festival of common joys and interests to make 
memorable an event or place. A pageant makes for democracy 
as nothing else does in that it creates community respect and 
sets free the latent forces of the obscure as well as of the 
gifted, and all together strike a level of appreciation not before 
existing." The New Harmony Centennial school pageant 
showed how the historic consciousness can be started in the 
very smallest children thru drawing, singing, the dance, and 
pantomime. Older pupils can be given the same drill in the 
use of books, in the organization of material, and in language 
work as in any other subject or exercise, so that when the 
time comes for the parts to be put together there will be an 
understanding by every child of the main meaning of the 
occasion. 

Pageant material in every community in Indiana is sur- 
prisingly abundant and much concerning it can be found in 
the State reports. The story of the Wabash river can be made 
as interesting as romance, beginning with geologic times at 
the divide separating the Wabash from the Maumee and the 



22 Indiana University 

St. Mary rivers, then taking the Wabash valley with its primi- 
tive forests, its animals, and its fertile lands. Next comes its 
historic past, beginning with the coureurs de hois, followed by 
the Indian, the fur trader, the missionary, and the famous 
historic personages under three flags. This brings in the 
story of Fort Wayne, of Lafayette, of Terre Haute, Vincennes, 
and New Harmony. In like manner, the National road can be 
made most interesting. Tho Gary is only nine years old, 
it can next year celebrate its tenth birthday and the Centennial 
of Indiana Statehood at the same time in a splendid "Pageant 
of the Melting-Pot," for Gary is all the while converting the 
ore into steel and also making American citizens out of her 
foreign population. There is the spirit of Lake Michigan that 
called forth the opportunity to use its waters. There is the 
ore that was brought, and then came the builders who have 
made the place known as the "apotheosis of the engineer"; 
parallel with this is the school system that has made a new 
facing about in public education. As a symbol of this the 
children might march with their parents, all of them dressed 
in their native costume, singing their own national airs, and 
carrying the flags of their own nation, which as they pass 
"Uncle Sam," they exchange for an American flag, and in the 
grand "ensemble" all unite in a chorus singing "America." 

A letter from Superintendent Study, of Fort Wayne, states 
that the Fort Wayne schools would take less general history 
for a year and concentrate on the history of Indiana in edu- 
cative preparation for the Centennial in 1916. A patriotic citi- 
zen of Fort Wayne, Mr. Griswold, began in January, 1914, a 
history of Fort Wayne which ran thru forty-three installments 
in the Fort Wayne Journal and much of which is now in the 
scrapbooks of the children and on file in the public library. 
The Fort Wayne school children celebrate Fort Day every 
year. 

Attention was called to the help given by the History De- 
partment and Extension Division of Indiana University thru 
the "Historical Survey," the lecture bureau, the Readings from 
Indiana History, and the leaflets that it is hoped will be issued 
to aid the schools of Indiana. It may turn out that the State 
University will be the clearing-house of information from now 
on until after the Centennial celebration. 



History Teaching in High Schools 23 

VITALIZING THE HISTORY WORK 

By R. D. Chadwick, 
Head of History Department, Emerson School, Gary. 

We have found that if the work can be made of social 
value, the interest of the pupils is enlarged, and the greater 
the interest, the greater is the incentive to work, and to do 
better work. If a pupil is led to see that his work will be of 
value not only to himself but to the other pupils, or that his 
work will be of value to his parents, and to other men and 
women that he knows, then his desire to do good work is 
kindled. How we are doing this in history, civics, and geog- 
raphy is as follows: 

For several years a sand-table has been a part of the regu- 
lar equipment of the history department. On this various 
assigned students of the two upper grammar grades are 
assigned to reproduce the topography of some locality which 
is being studied in history, or geography, or perhaps both. 
The latter was the case with a recently constructed relief map 
of a part of western Europe. Those assigned to do it took 
great pride in doing the work, and their eyes showed their 
pride when the sand-table was discussed in class. The battle- 
field of Gettysburg can be made very vivid by showing the 
various places of interest on that historic field of battle. 

In the spring of 1912 when we were using our first sand- 
map of the Gettysburg battlefield, an interesting incident took 
place. It shows the possibilities of this simple piece of appa- 
ratus in making some parts of history clear and real, and it 
shows an unsolicited and an impersonal estimate of the value 
of the results. I took two days to describe the incidents lead- 
ing up to the battle and the battle itself, basing my talk upon 
the clear description given in Rhodes' Histoi-y of the United 
States, Volume IV. The members of each class taking the 
work sat or stood around the sand-table where they could see 
it clearly. The day following the completion of the oral de- 
scription I called upon a little girl near the center of the room 
to tell the story of the battle. She started out without hesi- 
tating at the beginning of the series of events leading up to the 
battle. Hardly had she begun, when nearly twenty men came 
into the room and ranged themselves along the front and side. 
She glanced up, her voice trembled a little, then her eyes 
sought mine, and she evidently saw a message there, "Do your 



24 Indiana University 

best." She did not take her eyes away from mine during the 
following minutes, perhaps ten ; she did not miss an important 
point in the narration— it was clear to her, and she made it 
clear to every one in the room. She sat down. The men filed 
out, but before the door closed, we heard something that 
sounded like this : "That is the finest history recitation I ever 
heard." The youngsters heard it, too, so I know that it was 
not my own thought. We learned later in the day that we 
were being visited by the superintendents of the city schools 
of Wisconsin. The parents of this little girl came from Hun- 
gary. She is now in my most advanced high school class, and 
last year as a sophomore she took first prize in the Lake 
County Inter-Scholastic Oratorical Contest. I remember this 
above all of my experiences with the sand-table, and never 
have I been disappointed with the results. 

The Panama Canal can be more readily understood and 
remembered after it has been constructed in sand, and others 
might be mentioned. 

While the sand-table is largely used with the seventh and 
eighth grade pupils, not so with maps and charts. A few years 
ago students of the high school classes were assigned special 
maps, and many fine maps were made. They were too small 
to be used in the recitation, and could only be preserved by 
filing them away out of sight. They aided only the pupil who 
made them. For several years, our high school students have 
constructed many wall charts and maps illustrating many 
phases of ancient, medieval, modern, American, and South 
American history. They last many years as do expensive 
maps and charts which are published. Usually they are as- 
signed to a student as a special problem, just as a special 
report is assigned to be written from research work in the 
library. Many students enjoy drawing, and history can attract 
their interest in this way— and very profitably. The student 
who has made a creditable map showing the migrations of 
the Germans will have a more vivid picture of the situation 
than the student who has worked out a written report, and 
it will stay with him longer. We are using maps that were 
made three years ago, thus proving that the work was of 
social value. 

The idea of making cloth wall maps and charts did not 
come to me from reading Channing, Hart, and Turner's 
Guide, or other standard works on how to teach history. 



History Teaching in High Schools 25 

but rather from the fact that before I went to college, and 
after, too, when at home, during the summer vacation, I was 
accustomed to use "sign cloth" in my father's retail store. 
We bought a few yards of sign cloth at eight cents a yard, and 
tried it out in the history room. Our first map was "Europe 
at the height of Napoleon's Power." It was a success. Sign 
cloth will take drawing ink, but has its disadvantages when 
an erasure is necessary. As to the way a map is made, we 
find that one of the easiest ways is to mark off the map you 
wish to reproduce in one inch or one-half inch squares, then 
figure how many times the small map is capable of being 
enlarged, the only limitation being the size of the material 
upon which you are intending to draw the map. Suppose that 
you find that the large map will be six times as large as the 
small one, then lay out a rectangle six times as large, and 
reproduce the squares upon the same enlarged scale. Make 
the outline with a pencil, then ink it, letter it, and color it. 
This latter work will be improved with each succeeding map. 
Ordinary drawing crayons serve excellently for coloring. The 
card writer's flat pen is invaluable in making wide lines and 
large letters. Before coloring the map, it will look better if 
the squares are erased, and this will be an easy task if they 
were put on lightly with a hard lead pencil. 

As I intimated above, sign cloth has its disadvantages. We 
discovered that paper companies make a cloth used by the 
printer or bookbinder in plain white and light shades that is 
in every way the superior of sign cloth. By buying it in the 
bolt it costs twelve or fifteen cents a yard. Another method 
is to use a good quality of paper — not too heavy or stiff — 
and then paste it upon muslin. The map or chart is mounted 
by strips at top and bottom. A series of maps on the same 
subject may be mounted at the top only. 

If desirable, charts and maps may be traced on tracing- 
paper and then a blue print or blue prints may be made. By 
printing upon cloth, a very durable map is the result. A 
white print is secured by the Vandyke process. 

Of the same type of work is the Roman Temple which was 
constructed in 1912 by a student of Roman history. It is 
about five feet in length, and stands in the hall opposite the 
history room. It is our "barber sign." It is also more than 
that. It is invaluable to show the construction of Greek and 
Roman temples, and the modifications made by the Romans. 



26 



Indiana University 



Many pupils of all grades stop and look at it every day, and 
they have done so for three years. The boy who constructed 
it saw a model city of Rome on exhibition at Chicago, and upon 
being asked if he could not reproduce something of the sort, 
he said that he thought he could, and he did. 




Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva 

The above temple was constructed by a Gary his:h school boy in 1912, who followed s 
picture in Botsford's History of the Ancient World. The youthful artist in speaking of 
his work says : "The original has Corinthian capitals. I have Ionic. I have changed the 
frieze a little, and have left out all figures, such as the horses on the roof and the women 
on top of the columns on the steps." 



Recently a class in modern history studied the history of 
the rise and decline of the Turkish Empire. Then the class 
wrote accounts of it, and the three best were selected to appear 
in the three Gary daily papers. By so doing, their work was 
of value to the community, and it served as an incentive to 
get the work well done. Other articles of like type have been 
written, and printed in the daily papers, history department 
bulletins, and the student publication. 

History work cannot be adequately carried on without nu- 
merous written and oral reports. Live subjects are assigned 
in these classes for oral reports, with the understanding that 



History Teaching in High Schools 27 

if they are of sufficient merit they will be given in the audi- 
torium before four or five hundred pupils, many of whom may 
not be taking history, but who thereby are benefited by our 
work, and perhaps interested in it. The report so given has a 
marked social value. The auditorium is an unquestionable 
blessing to effective history work. 

To be more concrete in regard to the vitalizing influence 
of the auditorium upon history reports and debates, we will 
give a few of the subjects which have been discussed by his- 
tory students before auditorium audiences : 

Debates — 

Resolved, that Germany was the aggressor in the present war. 

(Modern History Class.) 
Resolved, that immigrants should be able to read. 

(Ancient History Class.) 
Resolved, that Lee was a greater general than Grant. 

(Eighth year U. S. History Class.) 
Resolved, that Indiana should have a new constitution. 

(Civics Class.) 
Resolved, that Gary should be made a second-class city. 

(Civics Class.) 
Oral Reports — 

A. From the Modern History classes: 

Growth of the British Empire in South Africa. 
How Japan became a World Power. 
The Balkan War. 
Recent Social Legislation. 

B. From the Ancient History Classes: 

The Persian Invasion. 

Architecture of Greece and Rome. 

Home Life of the Ancient Greeks. 

Sports in Athens and Rome. 

Hannibal. 
Special Programs — 

Washington's Birthday (Eighth grade). 

Lincoln's Birthday (Eighth grade). 

A Newspaper (each pupil in a class gave the news of a department). 

Illustrated Program: The Capitals of the Countries at War. 

Student Council Campaigns. 

Studies of local civic concern are of marked immediate 
value to the community, if they can be diffused among the 
citizens. They are ultimately of value to the community by 



28 Indiana University 

having intelligent citizens as the product of the schools. 
Where you get both immediate and future results at the same 
time then the work must be doubly valuable. In connection 
with the study of modern Europe, one of our classes is work- 
ing on the problem of municipal betterment. One phase of 
this is adequate parking facilities. Starting from Gary, this 
class is studying parks, and will publish its special research 
reports in a bulletin. Other departments of the school are 
making their work of intrinsic value to the individual and com- 
munity, and the history department will not be left out. This 
is only a beginning of what the history department hopes to 
do in this practical line of work. Kings and queens may die, 
but the problems of the American city are going to be increas- 
ingly of great importance. This work is of the utmost social 
value. 

During the past three years, there have been disorders, 
convulsions, and tumult within and among the nations of the 
world, for example, the Balkan wars, the Mexican situation, 
and the present European struggle. We have found that the 
interest in affairs that has resulted from these conditions 
has turned the attention of the pupil of the upper grades, and 
the student of the high school, to the newspaper and maga- 
zine without any direction by teachers. The interest so kindled 
should be directed. It should be directed to other subjects 
than war. It forms the most stimulating basis for studying 
the causes of war, such as commercial and industrial develop- 
ment, nature of the governments, race jealousies and animosi- 
ties, and cultural development. In 1912-13 my classes in mod- 
ern history were anxious to study the past of the Balkan 
peninsula in order to understand the reason for the alliance 
against the Turkish Empire. In 1913-14 a like interest was 
kindled in the history of Mexico, and American relations with 
the Spanish-American republics. During the autumn of 1914 
the study of the past two centuries of Western European 
history was conducted without effort because of the interest 
in the Great European War. 

Pictures from magazines and newspapers have been 
mounted and are being preserved. One of the Chicago papers 
has been issuing a series of double-page maps, full-page por- 
traits, and like interesting data, which we have mounted and 
will retain in our collection of illustrative materials. A few 
newspaper headlines, cartoons, and pictures mounted and pre- 



History Teaching in High Schools 29 

served will be very valuable a few years hence, to show that 
what the manuals describe were real events. 

There are various methods of handling contemporary his- 
tory. Bulletin boards are valuable for displaying noteworthy 
clippings. One of the seventh-year classes has kept a bulletin 
board full of clippings classified as follows : foreign news ; 
American news (United States, North and South America) ; 
State news ; city and county ; pictures and cartoons. Another 
bulletin board is used for editorials and news of especial value 
to a topic being studied, as, for example, parks. 

Special reports from newspapers and magazines have 
always been a satisfactory method of encouraging magazine 
and newspaper reading, and directing it into the proper chan- 
nels. During the year 1914-15, the ancient history class has 
been devoting each Friday to contemporary history. A weekly 
digest of ten events is kept in the history notebook. They are 
arranged as follows: (1) foreign events (three) ; (2) national 
(three) ; (3) local (four). A summary of each event is writ- 
ten together with the reference. Fifteen or twenty minutes of 
the Friday period is given up to reading notes and an analysis 
of what was most noteworthy. The rest of the time is taken 
up with reports upon assigned magazine articles, especially 
from the Literary Dif/est, the Outlook, and the Independent. 
An occasional debate is assigned upon a current topic of inter- 
est. The best of the reports and debates are given in the audi- 
torium. 

For several months this class subscribed for the Inde- 
pcfident, paying five cents for each copy. This magazine has 
published several pamphlets full of good ideas upon the use 
of magazines in history classes. One of the most helpful 
articles upon the subject was published in the Outlook for 
August 26, 1914. It has always been my belief that news- 
papers and magazines try to give the people what they want, 
and these magazines have correctly come to the conclusion 
that there is a growing demand for training in the use of the 
magazine and newspaper. It follows, then, that if we teach 
a child to prefer the substantial and not the sensational news, 
that the man and woman of tomorrow will demand and get 
better and cleaner newspapers and magazines. 

American history, civics, modern European history, and 
economics cannot be adequately studied without constant use 
of magazines and newspapers. Neither should an ancient his- 



30 Indiana University 

tory class be allowed to go thru a year upon a diet from five 
thousand to eight hundred years of age without some atten- 
tion to contemporary men and affairs. Suppose the boy or 
girl leaves school after his year of ancient history, or does 
not elect history again, he is hopelessly handicapped if he 
goes out into the world without some instruction in the present 
and the literature of the present. From what has been said 
above, it will be seen that we believe that the study of con- 
temporary history is a vitalizing force. 

Some time back we discovered that some of the pupils of 
the grades were carrying around in their pockets soiled packs 
of cards. The one that we preserved and have on file is the 
so-called game of "Old Maid." This belonged to a seventh- 
year youngster. He belonged to a class which met for history 
work the last hour of the day. Several expedients were used 
to enliven the period, and the captured pack of cards led to 
trying out a game of "Explorers." Several games were de- 
vised to be played by the pupil when alone, and two or more 
may play a game similar to the game of "Authors." The 
tables in the history room are admirable for this sort of activ- 
ity, and each youngster enjoyed it from the beginning. One 
day each week is given to the game. Each pupil made his own 
pack, and on game-day he always brings it in. 

The next period that will be vitalized will be the colonial 
period, 1607 to 1763. The game will be known as the "Game 
of Colonies." Next will come the "Revolutionary Game," fol- 
lowed by "Statesmen," "Treaties," "Inventions," "New Terri- 
tories," "Soldiers," and the like. The play instinct can thus 
be directed and used in mastering much valuable information 
which every child should know. Our experience tends to show 
that games, properly subordinated and directed, increase the 
interest in history work. 

The Student Council is an institution which has helped to 
vitalize our civics work. It is more than an institution of 
social value. It is a means of studying some of the most 
important lessons of good government by the laboratory 
method. 

What the Student Council is may be gained by quoting from 
an article written by a boy for the high school paper in 
March, 1914: 

The object of organizing the Student Council in the Emerson school 
was not for the purpose of "bossing" or ruling the school, for such a 



History Teaching in High Schools 



31 



BALLOT 

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Ballots Used in Gary Student Council Elections 



thing would be impossible, but the purpose of this body is to look out 
for the interests of the students. As the constitution of the Student 
Council states, "the object shall be to centralize the activities of the 
student body, to increase the school spirit, and to encourage high stand- 
ards in all phases of school endeavor. 

In the first place, the organization of the Student Council gives the 
students valuable practice in civic training. Voting is a very important 
act, one which every citizen must do. Many people do not realize its 
importance when they cast their ballots. Another fact which many 
people do not realize is that every boy and girl is a citizen. Therefore, 
it is expedient and necessary that every boy and girl should be taught 
correctly in regard to voting. A voter should know what candidates he 
wants to vote for as the best representatives of his idea of the public 
good. He should inquire about them and find out whether they have 
been honest and efficient, should learn their arguments, and see what 
policies they support. He should be thoroly convinced of their qualities 
himself, and should not depend entirely upon the advice of others. 

For these reasons the Student Council campaign and elections give 
valuable training. Our first election was held in November, 1913, on 
the same day as the municipal election. The two strong parties in the 



32 Indiana University 

city election were the Citizens' and the Democratic. The same parties 
were represented in the school election. The followers of these respective 
parties, in the eighth to the twelfth grades, held preliminary meetings, 
and each class nominated a girl and a boy as candidates. Each party 
elected a campaign manager, who arranged a program for the campaign, 
during which the candidates made speeches, telling their views, and giv- 
ing arguments upon their policies. The election offered still more prof- 
itable training. It is doubtful if more than a small percentage of the 
students in the school knew how to cast a ballot. Ballots were printed 
by the school press, booths erected, judges appointed, and the election 
was carried on in an orderly manner. This gave the students the actual 
experience of casting ballots. 

The ten students elected to the Student Council, one boy and one girl 
from the eighth to the twelfth grades, respectively, then elected officers 
and adopted a constitution. 

The following articles concerning the elections appeared in 
a Gary paper : 

Election of councilmen is taking place at the Emerson school today. 
Yesterday the candidates made campaign speeches in the auditorium. 
Bernard Szold, the candidate for the Citizens' party, made one of the 
strongest speeches of the morning. 

"If our side wins, as it is sure to do," he declared, "such matters as 
have been dangling will be attended to at once. Take, for instance, the 
matter of our school monograms. Some of our local sporting stores 
have been selling the emblem for which we have to work so hard in 
the field and in the gym to anybody and everybody. Shall we who are 
ready to give our whole strength and energy to fight until we are ex- 
hausted and ready to drop for the sake of school victory stand idly by 
and see our colors being sold to whoever has the price? I have pro- 
tested; so have many others who know what it means to fight for our 
gold and gray, but it has been of no avail. If the Citizens' party is 
elected, we will act at once upon this and similar issues, and you may 
be assured of a business-like, progressive administration." 

The purpose of the Council is to support athletics, and direct social 
affairs and general matters of school life. The election is being sup- 
ported by the teacher of civics, and it is a part of the school's general 
plan of supplementing their .regular classes with practical work in which 
the students will take an active interest. Returns will be made today, 
and the pupils are as eagerly awaiting results as their elders in the city 
election. (Gary Daily Tribvne, November 4, 1913.) 

"Republicans," "Democrats," and "Progressives," all attending public 
school, are lining up their forces for a battle on election day, Novem- 
ber 3. 

Altho the political struggle will come on the same day as candidates 
are battling for State and county offices, the school politics has nothing 
to do with the big affair, but it means as much at the Emerson school, 
because the councilmen who are to be elected are to administrate many 
oi the affairs of the school. 



History Teaching in High Schools 33 

The Democrats have arranged a campaign platform which has nothing 
about tariff and such things, and two candidates from the Eighth grade, 
Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes are seeking votes. 
From nearly every grade there is a girl candidate for councilman. Fol- 
lowing are the Democratic aspirants for office: 

Eighth grade John Knotts 

Freshman Randolph Hancock and Eva Dunlap 

Sophomore John Kyle 

Junior H. Carlton and Madge Kyle 

Senior G. Wilson and Flossie Kilbourne 

In the platform of these candidates the following planks are incor- 
porated: students' rights, national respect by schools, stronger athletic 
support, student and faculty cooperation, stronger school organization, 
interesting auditorium periods, better school functions at a minimum 
cost. 

The Student Council which will be elected from one of the three 
"parties" will have charge of school entertainments after athletic events, 
auditorium periods, supervision of invitations to school dances and other 
affairs, and many other items of school administration. 

"Political" meetings are to be held in the auditorium each day this 
week by the three parties in preparation for election Tuesday. (Gary 
Daily Tribune, October 28, 1914.) 

The students themselves had these articles printed, and 
used them as campaign material. Several candidates had the 
"campaign-card" sometimes seen in municipal and other local 
elections printed with a half-tone of the candidate and an invi- 
tation to vote for him. Properly supervised, we believe in 
this student organization as a vitalizing force for civic instruc- 
tion. 

After hearing the arguments of their own candidates given 
from the auditorium, it was logical that the value of hearing 
all sides of the political issues at one meeting should occur 
to both teacher and students. Accordingly, a mass meeting 
for voters was arranged. The city chairman of the parties 
in the November 4, 1914, election promised to send able speak- 
ers before this meeting. The following appeared upon a small 
card and upon window cards : 

Ordinary voters who have heard tariff and railroad rates. State ex- 
penditures, county bond issues, votes for women, new constitutions, and 
scandals concerning the characters of the candidates bandied around 
until they cannot tell which party is the worst, are going to have a 
chance to hear the issues of each party stated in a clear and definite 
manner, side by side, so they can take their choice under the direction of 
the schools. 

A big mass meeting at the Emerson school auditorium is arranged 
for next Wednesday evening at which the "Republican," "Democratic," 



34 Indiana University 



now TO VOTE 

That the citizens of Gary may hear all sides of the issues in the campaign 
now on, a meeting for the citizens of all political faiths will be held 

FRIDAY EVENING, 7:45. OCT. 30, 14 

AT THE EMERSON AUDITORIUM 

THE PROGRAM: 

Why Vote the Democratic Ticket? ^'•^'^^r?w„"pi^r^"^'" 

Why Vote the SpciaUst Ticket? ^"c"S'' 

Why Vote the Progressive Ticket? pastorofFi'stco;ir"Siona.church 

Why Vote the RepubUcan Ticket? ^- ^- "^^h"^"" 



Mayor of Gary 



Each speaker will be given thirty minutes for Jiis speech, and each has been asked to 
give a clear-cut answer to the question. 

This meeting is under the auspices of the Student Council of the Emerson School. Its 
aim is to help the busy citizen of Gary. Women and children are welcome. Remem- 
ber the time, the place, and the purpose: 

VOTE INTELLIGENTLY 

Card Announcing Voters' Meeting 

"Progressive," and "Socialist" "parties" will be represented by one 
speaker each. The speakers will be given thirty minutes in which to 
present the case of their parties. 

Mud slinging will be absolutely barred. The talks will have to do 
with the party the speaker represents and not with the faults of the 
others, and it is hoped that in this manner voters who really want to 
know the issues without ploughing thru tons of muck and mire may find 
what they are voting for. 

The plan was worked out by the Student Council of the Emerson 
school. This organization is conducted on political lines, officers being 
elected on the same scale as a municipal election. The council is com- 
posed of all the grades from the eighth to the twelfth, one boy and one 
girl being elected to represent each class. Caucuses are held and on 
November 3 of each year an election to choose a president and other 
officers is held. 

The Council meets each week and has charge of school affairs in gen- 
eral, supervises invitations to school dances, and provides entertainment 



History Teaching in High Schools 35 

at auditorium periods and other entertainments. Louis Kuss, represent- 
ing the juniors, is president. His successor and other officers will be 
elected on November 3. 

Prof. R. D. Chadwick, who has been assisting the Council in the 
arrangements for the voters' meeting next Wednesday, has already re- 
ceived promises of speakers from the Democratic and Socialist pai'ties 
and the Republican speaker will be secured today. The Progressives will 
be interviewed today, and asked to send a speaker to the meeting. The 
public will be welcomed to the meeting. (Gary Daily Tribune, October 
22, 1914.) 

The results of this meeting were all that could be desired. 
The main floor of the auditorium was filled with an audience 
of about seven hundred, five hundred of this number being- 
voters. The students had decorated the platform appropri- 
ately with the Stars and Stripes. The speakers spoke ear- 
nestly and with dignity. At least five hundred voters were 
able to vote more intelligently than would otherwise have been 
the case. We believe that the voters will welcome meetings 
of this kind in the future campaigns. The students felt that 
they had done something of social value. 

If anybody has not the issues of the four parties in the field firmly 
and clearly fixed in his mind as the election approaches, it is his own 
fault, for last night at the Emerson school the claims of the four parties 
were presented side by side so that all might choose intelligently one of 
them. 

The meeting, one of the most unique that was ever held in connection 
with a heated campaign, was under the auspices of the Student Council of 
the Emerson school. They threw open the auditorium, and invited every 
voter in the city to come and hear the claims of all parties presented, and 
without clouding the main issues. 

The auditorium was packed and it is estimated that nearly one thous- 
and voters listened eagerly to all of the exponents of the four parties. 

Mayor R. 0. Johnson presented the Republican case in a remarkably 
clear and masterful speech. A storm of applause greeted him after he 
had finished his address. 

Dan White, a Socialist speaker of Chicago, was an eloquent orator and 
outlined the Socialist views concisely. Rev. Eric I. Lindh told why he be- 
lieved the Progressive party should receive the people's votes, and Attor- 
ney George B. Hershman, of Crown Point, presented the Democratic side 
in a thoro manner. 

Teaching voters how to vote by giving them a chance to know what 
the parties actually stand for has never before been done by a school, but 
as it was considered an educative rather than a political meeting it was 
sanctioned by the school authorities. 

R. D. Chadwick, head of the history department, planned the meeting, 
and it was carried out by the Student Council. (Gary Daily Tribune, Oc- 
tober 31, 1914). 



36 Indiana University 

The following comment of an ex-president of the Council is 
interesting : 

The Student Council of the Emerson school has been organized now 
for over a year, and it has established beyond a doubt that it is here 
to stay. The Council has shown in its different activities and duties 
that it is worth while, and the students of the school realize that it is no 
longer an experiment, and it is respected accordingly. 

It is very important as an instructive organization, since it enables 
the students, both boys and girls, to learn to vote, which is extremely 
necessary, for I believe the time is not far off when the girls will cast 
their ballot for the policy of our government as well as the boys, and 
there are not many citizens of the United States who can vote intelli- 
gently, because of the lack of proper instruction. The Student Council 
eliminates this, and teaches all students to vote intelligently, as the cam- 
paign and election of candidates are carried on in precisely the same 
manner as in municipal elections. 

The object of the Student Council is to work for the welfare of the 
school and students, and it has accomplished much in spite of all the 
obstacles that any new organization must surmount, and has done some 
very fine and successful work. 

The Student Council takes charge of the auditorium periods, and 
elects a president and secretary every month for them. This gives the 
students elected to these positions a fine training, and especially in the 
controlling of themselves. For example: A boy who may be a little 
careless in his conduct may be elected to the presidency of an auditorium 
period. This naturally tends t« set an example for other students while 
he occupies the chair, and the feeling of pride in his honorary position 
will stay with him after his term of office expires. 

A program for the raising of the flag has been successfully carried 
out, and it will tend to make the students more enthusiastic patriots. 

There are ten students elected to the Council, one boy and one girl 
from the eighth to twelfth grades, inclusive. The Council holds meetings 
every Tuesday in Room 208 at 11:00 a.m., which are presided over by 
the president, who is elected by the members. He presides according to 
a regular oi*der of business. 

During the campaign great rivalry exists between the respective can- 
didates, speeches are made and answered, each party has a manager and 
a platform. The interest of the students is very keen. The students 
hear each platform expounded, and why they should cast their ballot a 
certain way. They always hear each candidate, and as the candidates 
are all well known, no one is sure who are the lucky ones until the votes 
are counted. Each election room is presided over, as in the city elections, 
and everything adds to the students' instruction, both as voters and as 
election officials. 

After the votes are counted, and the lucky candidates are congratu- 
lated, the old council turns the business over to the new. The old mem- 
bers make little talks, and the new members take their places. Good 
feeling prevails between the defeated candidates and the newly elected. 
As one of the former, I can truthfully say that altho the defeat is keenly 
felt, we feel that we have done our best. The winners were the choice of 



History Teaching in High Schools 



37 




View of a Corridor in the Emerson School* 

* Several things in this corridor should be noted. The bird's-eye view of the Panama 
Canal and the chart indicating the elements of the population of Mexico were made by the 
instructor in painting with the assistance of history students working in his department. 
In the cabinet is a well-chosen collection of Central American pottery. The Roman temple 
has already been described. Students transfer the sand-table and maps from hall to class- 
room as they are needed. 



38 Indiana University 

the majority, and we have nothing but the best of wishes toward the 
success of the lucky candidates and a successful year for the Council. 

The members of the Student Council desire to benefit the school and 
students, and to do good, earnest, conservative work, and, with the coop- 
eration of the faculty, there is not a doubt but that the Council of future 
years will be an indispensable organization of the (high) school. 

L. D. Kuss, '16. 

The history room should be a laboratory for the study of 
history as much as the chemistry room is a laboratory for 
the study of chemistry. The history room of the Emerson 
school is equipped with twenty tables, five feet long, and from 
twenty to thirty inches wide. Thus the first thing that is 
noticed upon entering the room is that the conventional desk 
is missing. A table of this size enables students to make 
charts and maps as well as if they were in a drafting-room. 
It also gives the greatest flexibility in seating. The front 
tables easily seat four or five, and the others three, altho as 
a rule two sit and work at each table. Should one student 
want a whole table for his chart, the others may easily go to 
another table. These tables were designed and built in the 
Emerson shops. 

The wall space of the room is usually occupied with illus- 
trative material — maps, charts, pictures, and the like. The 
rear end of the room is wired so that pictures may be easily 
hung up. The wall space of the halls near the history room 
is likewise utilized. Students often stop and examine maps 
and pictures when they have leisure as they come thru the 
halls. 

The branch of the public library in the Emerson school 
is near the history room, and this is an invaluable aid in con- 
ducting outside readings in source books and the standard 
manuals. Many standard reference books are placed in the 
book cabinets of the room. No history room can be without 
dictionaries of geography and biography, as well as the usual 
unabridged dictionary, historical, and standard encyclopaedias, 
and atlases. The pupils of the grades are taught how to use 
them before they take up the high school courses. 

In the halls near the history room are several large cabi- 
nets in which historical relics are on display. A gentleman 
of the city lent us his collection of Indian relics for nearly a 
year, and from this collection many concrete things concern- 
ing Indian life and dress have been taught many children. In 
another cabinet we have a collection of pottery from Central 



History Teaching in High Schools 



39 




History Room, Emerson School (Viewed from Rear)* 

* Of the twelve maps or charts shown in this picture nine were made by students. 
Among these are "The German Empire Since 1871," "Analysis of the Civil War," "The 
Free and Slave States," "Seventy Years of Territorial Growth," "Europe at the Height of 
Napoleon's Power," "Mexico," "The Western Theater of the European War," "European 
War Map, 1914." The cabinets are used for filing mounted pictures (purchased halftones 
and those clipped from periodicals), the Congressional Record, reference books, and 
manuals. Upon the table with the globe are twelve mounted Babylonian tablets. Cards 
furnish translations of inscriptions. 



40 Indiana University 

America. As a further piece of illustrative material of this 
sort are the Babylonian tablets which are framed between 
glass, exposing both sides. Anything of historic value which 
citizens are willing to lend can thus be taken care of and turned 
to good use, in the same way in which we preserve our own 
valuable relics. 

Bulletin boards are used in the history room and in the 
halls for displaying newspaper pictures, cartoons, and articles, 
post-cards and other pictures unmounted. This convenient 
means of handling current news is worth while. 

In connection with the auditorium we are enabled to use 
the stereopticon machine for throwing pictures on the screen 
to illustrate history and geography reports. A program in 
which the stereopticon or moving-picture machine is used is 
always enjoyed by the students, as well as being very prof- 
itable. 

A short quotation from the History Teachers' Magazine 
is pertinent at this point : 

We are said to be still far behind France, Germany, and England in 
our estimate of the value of illustrative material and in our willingness 
to expend money for the same. Nevertheless, interest can be aroused 
and in almost any community some of the essential features of an ideal 
history room can be evolved. Good working desks where the pupils can 
draw maps, work out the interpretation of pictures, or solve some of the 
problems offered by source material, directly under the teacher's eye, are 
a first desideratum. Materials and tools for drawing, colored crayons, 
and suitable paper for map work, paste pots and brushes, scissors, heavy 
cardboard, assorted pieces of wood, manila paper, are some of the homely 
but useful articles in the history ivorkshop. Maps, charts, pictures, 
pieces of statuary, and models are to be acquired according to the means 
at command. ... A good lantern, plus a projectoscope for the use 
of post-cards and chance pictures, is certainly most desirable. The edu- 
cational value of the lantern exhibit is perhaps not equal to that of pic- 
tures and models, but it adds a large and vital element to the interest and 
enjoyment of a class. It should be borne in mind that, while to entertain 
or to give "desultory information" is a legitimate purpose in the use of 
illustrative material, it is always decidedly a secondary one, and the 
fundamental purposes are: (1) to add definite and concrete knowledge 
to the pupil's store of historical information; (2) to awaken that lively 
historical curiosity which stimulates to independent reading and study 
without the imminent goad of the teacher's injunctions or the whip and 
spur of the periodical report card sent home to trouble parents. All 
illustrative material and equipment for the history rooms should be eval- 
uated on this basis and acquired in the sequence suggested by these 



History Teaching in High Schools 



41 




History Room, Emerson School (Viewed from Front) 



* The rear wall of the history room is wired for convenient hanging of illustrative 
material. The maps and pictures have been taken from newspapers and magazines. Be- 
neath are "Instructions to Votei-s" ; two sample referendum ballots ; sample State, county, 
township, city and school ballots ; the "How to Vote" window-card with which the Octo- 
ber (1914) voters' meeting was advertised. The convenient arrangement of these inaps, 
pictures, and placards greatly increases their usefulness. The seventh and eighth grade 
pupils who often come into this room become interested in Europe as a background for 
American history and geography. 



42 Indiana University 

ends. ("The Use of Illustrative Material in Secondary Schools," by Maud 
Hamilton, of the Wisconsin High School of the University of Wisconsin, 
in History Teachers' Magazine, March, 1914.) 

We like the idea of calling the history room a "workshop." 
We believe that all illustrative materials should aid in the 
main object in teaching history, and not become an end in 
themselves. Our experience is that there is too little use of 
such expedients for enlivening history work rather than too 
much. On this point one of our foremost educators says : 

Too many maps, even large ones from the government, too incessant 
reference to geography, and especially too many pictures, lantern slides, 
perhaps games with history cards, it seems to me, some authorities to 
the contrary notwithstanding, we can hardly have. (G. Stanley Hall, 
Educational Problems, II, p. 293.) 

We believe the equipment for vital history teaching in- 
cludes more than just a room where pupils come to recite and 
hear lectures. Historical materials should not be confined to 
one recitation room. The walls of the recitation room should 
be used, and also the walls in the halls adjoining the history 
room. Special reports, debates, and the like should be heard 
not only in the classroom, but also in the auditorium or assem- 
bly room. Books should be used in the history room, and in 
the library as well. 



History Teaching in High Schools 



43 




View of a Corridor in the Emerson School* 



* This view of a corridor shows how bulletin boards are used for posting editorials 
and newspaper clippings of all sorts, typewritten extracts from magazine articles, etc. 
On one board is a "Seventh Grade Newspaper," which contains clippings classified as 
foreign, American, and local news, and cartoons and pictures. The cabinet houses private 
collections of relics, which are lent to the school for certain periods of time. The large 
printed and lithographed maps are hung here when there is space and when they are 
not needed elsewhere. 



II. 

STANDARDS IN HISTORY AND CIVICS FOR 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



THE NATURE AND METHOD OF HISTORY 

By Samuel B. Harding, 
Professor of European History in Indiana University. 

"It were far better, as things now stand," says Professor 
Dicey in his brilHant book on The Law of the Constitution, "to 
be charged with heresy than to fall under the suspicion of 
lacking historical-mindedness." The high popular appreciation 
of the subject which is implied in this saying is flattering to 
the professional historian, but doubts intrude. Our colleagues 
love to cite to us on occasion that dictum of Sainte Beuve that 
"History is in great part a set of fables which people have 
agreed to believe in" ; and we are regaled also with the story 
of the great Whig leader who, when retired from politics, 
called for something to read — "anything but history," said he, 
"for history must be false." Lack of historical-mindedness 
may be an intellectual crime, but a true appreciation of the 
nature of history and of its methods, — still more, a constant 
and correct application of these in the discussion of problems 
of current politics, — is the rarest of virtues, and one not always 
displayed by professional historians themselves. A discussion, 
therefore, of the nature of this subject, and the materials and 
processes of the historical student, may not be altogether im- 
pertinent. Let it be understood at the outset, however, that 
I have little to offer you of my own. This whole paper may 
be described as merely a rehash of principles laid down in the 
well-known manuals of Bernheim, of Langlois and Seignobos, 
and of other writers on historical methodology. 

First, then, as to the nature of history. Here, I think, is 
the great stumbling-block, not only for the laity but for the 
old-fashioned historians as well. With due humility I would 
assert that all the definitions which make history a "record" 
or "narrative" of events are fundamentally wrong. They direct 
attention not to the content but to the vehicle of the subject,-, 

(44) 



History Teaching in High Schools 45 

to the outer husk and not to the inner meat. This, I contend, 
is by no means an unessential matter, for it colors the whole 
point of view. The decision of this point determines whether 
history is to be accounted a branch of literature or a science ; 
whether artistry of presentation or the veracity of the facts 
presented is to be reckoned the main thing. So capable a his- 
torian as Mr. Rhodes has shown himself to be in his History 
of the United States from 1850, errs on this point when he 
comes to set down the qualities which make the great his- 
torian ; and with him err the late Charles Francis Adams, presi- 
dent of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a host of 
lesser lights. In their view Herodotus, Thucydides, and Taci- 
tus are still the unsurpassed masters, because of the charm of 
their presentation and the vigor of their style. Despite the 
vast increase of historical knowledge, — despite the sharpening 
of the historian's tools, the perfecting of his methods, and the 
enormously greater skill displayed in critical processes, — the 
modern historian is held less worthy than the ancient, on the 
ground of inferiority in the art of presenting his subject. I 
confess that, to me, this view seems most absurd. The zoolo- 
gist of today does not value Pliny or Buffon above modern 
writers on account of a possibly greater charm of style; nor 
are Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville esteemed better guides 
than more recent travelers to the geography of Asia, because 
of the naive charm of their narratives. History is a body of 
knowledge, and literary considerations have the same weight, 
and no greater, in estimating the value of works dealing with 
it as is accorded to those relating to mathematics, astronomy, 
and the other sciences. 

Pray, however, do not misunderstand me. No one will 
condemn more readily than I the slovenly writer who, thru 
carelessness, pedantic affectation, or ignorance of his mother 
tongue produces an unreadable book, no matter with what field 
of knowledge it is concerned. Perhaps more than on most 
subjects, works on history, because of their concern with the 
facts of man's life in society, can and ought to be made easily 
and pleasantly readable, not only for the scholar but for the 
general public also. And this union of accurate scholarship 
with artistic skill of presentation is by no means unknown 
among historians. Parkman possessed in a high degree both 
qualities; Dean Milman and John Richard Green are cases in 
point; and Macaulay, tho at times biased by political preju- 



46 Indiana University 

dices, and inaccurate from too much dependence on his truly 
marvelous memory, was a shining example of the combination 
of vast historical erudition with a captivating style. The point 
which I wish to make is merely this: that style can save no 
man, and (in the words of Professor Masson, the author of 
the monumental life of Milton) , "History without accuracy is 
a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." It is for this reason 
that Hume, Rollin, and Ridpath are numbered among the his- 
torically damned; that Froude, Thierry, and Fiske wander in 
the limbo of the uncondemned yet unredeemed ; and that even 
such masters as Freeman, Ranke, Fustel de Coulanges, and 
Taine, their works battered and riddled by criticism, undergo 
purgation for their faults of method and their errors of appli- 
cation. 

But I must turn to the positive consideration of my sub- 
ject. M. Langlois, part author of a brilliant manual of his- 
torical method, says: "The peculiarity of historical facts is 
this, that they are known indirectly by the help of their traces. 
Historical knowledge is essentially indirect knowledge." In 
other sciences the facts are directly observed, and the experi- 
ment may be repeated ad libitum. Even where the scientist 
uses the observations of others, these are made by trained 
observers and they can be repeated at need if suspected of 
error. The observations which the historian must use, on the 
other hand, are rarely made by competent persons, or accord- 
ing to any systematic plan. They usually come to him second 
or third hand, or are the random recollections of bystander 
or participant set down haphazard, without much bearing on 
the fact to be elicited, and often not committed to writing 
till time has dimmed the memory of what actually was done 
or observed. It is — again I refer to Langlois — as tho a chemist 
were forced to glean his knowledge of a series of experiments 
from the chance observations of the laboratory janitor, nar- 
rated weeks after the event. The historian can rarely inter- 
rogate the fact itself ; he can only know it from the imperfect, 
often mendacious, usually erroneous record which has come 
down to him. "No documents, no history" is the unvarying 
rule, — interpreting the word document to mean, in the widest 
sense, any trace left by the fact, whether material remain, 
oral tradition, or written or pictorial record. New documents 
turning up may at any moment reclaim for history an epoch 
or field of human activity before unknown. To cite but one 



History Teaching in High Schools 47 

example, it was thru the discovery and interpretation of the 
cuneiform tablets of Assyria and Babylonia that there was 
made known a field of history of whose existence indeed we 
were before aware, but whose outlines and features were 
shrouded in the darkness of documentary poverty. 

To the historical investigator the documents are every- 
thing. This is so, however, not in the sense of constituting 
an end in themselves, for they are merely the starting point — 
the only possible starting point — in the search for historical 
truth. "No documents, no history"; but this saying by no 
means implies that the document at once and of itself yields 
up historical truth. Of all stubborn, intractable things, the 
document can on occasion show itself the most stubborn, the 
most intractable ! Fustel de Coulanges, who in some respects 
may be considered the founder of the modem scientific school 
of French historians, was fond of characterizing history as 
"the most difficult of sciences." Perhaps there is exaggera- 
tion here; we are all prone to magnify our difficulties and to 
minimize those of our neighbors. But the impression is so 
widespread that history is a subject which requires no special 
skill on the part of its votaries — a subject to which any person 
of moderately liberal culture may turn with good chance of 
success, in case he but know how to write well — that I am 
tempted to set down somewhat at length the processes to which 
the document must be subjected before it will yield up its con- 
tent of truth. 

Assume that with bibliography, catalog, index, and table 
of contents our document has been hunted to its lair in archives 
or repository ; assume also that it is deciphered, the true text 
established, and the first formal work of external criticism per- 
formed. These processes, tho often carried on by the inter- 
preting historian, may well be left to the philologian or other 
critical scholar. Even so, much remains to be done before pen 
can be put to paper in the way of narrative or exposition. 

First comes the critical investigation of authorship. By 
whom, and where, and when, was the document composed ? It 
may be a forgery, as are the well known Forged Decretals 
and Donation of Constantine, and so many others of the docu- 
ments of the Middle Ages. So late as 1895 there was pub- 
lished in London by a reputable firm a work entitled The 
Journal of a Spy in Paris During the Reign of Terror, which 



48 Indiana University 

purported to have been written in 1794; but this was soon 
shown, from a study of its contents, to be an arrant forgery. 
Again, even if our document is genuine, its author may have 
borrowed his information, without so stating, from another 
source. Gordon's History of the American Revolution, which 
was long accepted as "the most reliable [contemporary] his- 
tory of the Revolution from a British pen," was shown a few 
years ago to be an impudent plagiarism, copied page after page 
from the English Annual Register, and possessing no authority 
as an independent observation of the events. In modern his- 
tory, where the number of firsthand documents of proved 
authenticity is so great, work of this sort is less frequently 
needed ; but for ancient and medieval history the working out 
of the affiliation of sources is an important part of the his- 
torian's preliminary labor. 

For all periods the document must be localized as to time 
and place. A document which cannot be dated with more or 
less exactness is comparatively valueless. In Madison's jour- 
nal of the debates in the Federal convention of 1787 is given 
a draft for a constitution, marvelously like the plan eventually 
adopted, which purports to be the one introduced by Charles 
Pinckney of South Carolina. If the document is actually of the 
date given it, the chief credit for our Federal constitution 
must be ascribed to Pinckney. In the record of the proceed- 
ings of the convention, however, Pinckney's plan is practically 
ignored, and the discussion is based entirely on other drafts 
submitted. The presumptive evidence afforded by this fact 
is strengthened by what we now know of the history of the 
plan recorded by Madison. Madison for some reason did not 
copy out Pinckney's plan at the time of its introduction, and 
did not secure a copy of it until 1819. In that year the official 
journal of the convention was published, and it contained 
Pinckney's plan as supplied to the editor of the journal by the 
family. This Madison at that time included in his notes with- 
out examination. The draft in Madison's journal, then, instead 
of being a contemporaneous copy, dates from a period thirty 
years later. It seems, moreover, to have been written out 
from memory, and is largely influenced by the constitution 
actually adopted. As evidence of what Pinckney's plan was 
in 1787, the document possesses no value ; and any claim for 
Pinckney's influence on the constitution, based on this docu- 
ment, is worthless. 



History Teaching in High Schools 49 

When we have our document localized in time and place, 
and know the personality of its author, we must still make 
sure that our interpretation of its language is the one its 
author meant it to bear. Where documents are few and in 
tongues no longer living, a great deal of emphasis needs be 
placed on this phase of the historian's task. Much of the 
preeminence which Fustel de Coulanges enjoyed among stu- 
dents devoting themselves to the early Middle Ages was due 
to the care and conscientiousness with which he went thru 
the extant documents from the fourth to the ninth centuries, 
weighing without preconceived theory the force of word and 
phrase, and interpreting them in the light of the context, and 
of the usage of the author's time, place, and individual habit. 
When we read in Tacitus's description of the early Germans, 
Arva per annos mutant, we easily translate, "Each year they 
shift the fields." But what are we to understand by "fields" ? 
and what by "shifting"? Is this a mere field rotation, the 
community leading a settled life ? or is there annual migration 
of the community as a whole? Do we have individual, or 
communal ownership of land ? or something which can scarcely 
as yet be called "ownership" at all? Is an aristocratic or a 
democratic regime implied in the arrangement? Much, it will 
be seen — in fact the determination of practically the whole 
trend of medieval popular development, both for the Conti- 
nent and for England — hinges upon the interpretation of these 
words and their context. In view of the uncertainty of the 
interpretation, it is not surprising that for a generation or 
more historians have ranged themselves in rival schools, under 
the names of Romanists and Germanists. 

For modern history, where the student suffers not from 
a paucity but a plethora of documents, and where the linguistic 
difficulties are less, the interpretative criticism, tho still im- 
portant, is less vitally so. The criticism of the good faith 
and accuracy of the author, on the other hand, loses no whit 
of its importance. It is comparatively easy, in most modern 
documents, to make out what the author meant to say; but 
it is less easy always to determine whether what he says is 
true. Every separate statement must be examined with 
respect to good faith and accuracy. The author may have 
had personal, party, class, or national ends to further, by con- 
cealing or distorting the truth. The need of such criticism 
in the case of documents dealing with the causes and progress 



50 Indiana University 

of the present great European war is especially noteworthy. 
Again, who today would accept unquestioningly the statements 
of a Republican newspaper concerning the aims and policies of 
the Democratic party, or an account by either Protestant or 
Catholic divine of the beliefs and practices of his opponents? 
The monkish chroniclers of the Middle Ages inevitably por- 
trayed men and events from the monkish standpoint. Vanity, 
too, a desire to magnify one's own exploits, may enter as a 
distorting factor, — as in the memoirs of the famous Cardinal 
De Retz, and the boasts of King Charles IX, infamously false, 
of having organized the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Allow- 
ance also must be made for literary artifice, for the desire to 
please the public, and for official formulas. The phrase 
"servant of the servants of God," found in most papal bulls, 
does not necessarily convey an idea of special humility on the 
part of the Pope using it; nor, on the other hand, should the 
formulas in Carolingian documents, filched from Roman im- 
perial chancelleries, be allowed to deck out that mock empire 
with the attributes of departed glory. 

Criticism for accuracy is a different matter from that for 
good faith. Here we need inquire whether the author's state- 
ments suffer from hallucination or prejudice; whether he was 
really in a position to know the facts which he relates ; whether 
he was attentive to them, or thru lack of interest or distrac- 
tion (as thru need for action on a field of battle) he may have 
observed inaccurately; whether, above all, he wrote down his 
observations at the time or some years after the fact. Memoirs 
written after a number of years are responsible for the intro- 
duction into our histories of many errors. To this source, in 
large part, are due the conflicting claims as to the authorship 
of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. To a similar defect of 
memory was due the claim, advanced by Walt Whitman's 
friends, that Leaves of Grass was composed prior to the poet's 
reading of Emerson's works, when Whitman himself, before 
the impairment of his mind in later life, had expressly con- 
fessed to Emerson's influence. To all the foregoing causes of 
error must be added that which comes from a constitutional 
incapacity for accuracy — a defect of mental constitution anal- 
agous to color-blindness, which from one of its most noted 
victims has been styled "Froude's disease." This eminent 
writer, tho conscientious and industrious to a high degree — 
tho convinced of the necessity of basing history on documents, 



History Teaching in High Schools 51 

and aware of the utility of criticism — was unable to treat any 
subject with more than an approach to accuracy. The classical 
example of his defect is the following, from his account of 
Adelaide, Australia, a city which he had visited personally: 
"We saw below us," he writes, "in a basin with a river winding 
thru it, a city of 150,000 inhabitants, none of whom had ever 
known or will ever know one moment's anxiety as to the recur- 
ring regularity of his three meals a day." The facts, as 
unctuously pointed out by Froude's critics, are these: Ade- 
laide is built on an eminence, not in a basin ; there is no river 
running thru it ; the population when Froude visited it did not 
exceed 75,000 persons ; and at that very time it was suffering 
from a famine! This instance can be paralleled — not quite 
so neatly, perhaps, but still in all that affects the principle — 
by many cases among authors of documents as well as sec- 
ondary writers. The reality of the defect can scarcely be 
doubted by anyone who has wrestled with an honest but inca- 
pable witness; nor, I think, will teachers of experience need 
much argument to convince them that an incapacity for accu- 
racy, in a certain class of minds, is a mournful reality. 

I have sketched at such length the critical processes to 
which the scientific historian must submit his materials be- 
cause of an impression which prevails — founded, it must be 
confessed, upon the too common habit of some historians — 
that all that is necessary, when you find a statement with 
respect to a particular fact, especially if the statement is 
in a contemporary source, is to transfer it unquestioningly to 
your narrative. In reality, however, the true historical stu- 
dent will accept the statement only after he has tested and 
tried it for error and bad faith. Then, and then only, may 
he properly proceed to consider the relation of that particular 
statement to others, derived from other sources, and bearing 
on the same fact or event. It must not be forgotten that the 
testimony of one witness, even of unimpeachable veracity, is 
not enough to establish more than the probability of the fact. 
Corroborative testimony, drawn from other observations, is 
needed before the fact can be accepted as conclusively proved. 
Often such corroborative testimony will be wholly wanting; 
often the corroboration will be only partial ; frequently tested 
statements will be completely at variance and flatly contra- 
dictory. May the historian in the latter case accept the testi- 
mony which agrees with preconceived theory and reject that 



52 Indiana University 

which contradicts? This, in brief, is what John Fiske, that 
prince of historical popularizers, was wont to do; this, for 
example, was his method of dealing with the alleged 1497 voy- 
age of Americus Vespucius. Such procedure, tho venial per- 
haps in the popularizer, is inexcusable in the scholar. The true 
course is that indicated by Justin Winsor, himself easily first 
among critical writers on early American history. "Historical 
truth," says he, "is reached by balancing everything, and not 
by assimilating that which easily suits." Even so we must be 
on our guard. If one witness testifies that two and two make 
four, and another that two and two make five, we may not 
split the difference and say the sum is four and a half. One 
witness is right and the other is wrong. If we can conclusively 
or with a fair degree of probability say which is right, well 
and good. If not, we can only point out the conflict, and 
leave the question in the uncertainty which must inevitably, 
thru lack of decisive evidence, attach to so much of our his- 
torical knowledge. 

There is one process, however, which in the hands of the 
skilled historian will often avail to settle conflicts in state- 
ments and clear up obscurity. This is what has been styled 
constructive reasoning. On its negative side this gives us the 
"argument from silence," in accordance with which we infer, 
from the absence of statements where we might legitimately 
expect them, the nonexistence of the fact. On its positive side 
constructive reasoning gives us the "argument from analogy," 
likewise legitimate when properly used; and the argument 
from the harmony of the facts. The latter, perhaps, consti- 
tutes the most frequent and effective application of reason to 
the final determination of fact. A train of events, the life of 
a man, the body of usages which we call an institution, — each 
constitutes a whole of which the parts are interrelated. Every 
fact definitely and conclusively established, no matter how 
trivial or unmeaning it may seem, can rightly be made a test 
with respect to other facts of the same connection. The ques- 
tion of whether the English position at the battle of Hastings 
was or was not defended by a palisade or fixed defense of some 
sort, seems quite disproportionate to the amount of ink which 
was shed over it by the partisans of Mr. Freeman and his 
critic, Mr. Round. But on that question hinges our whole 
conception of that battle, so momentous in English history ; 
on it, too, depends in large part Freeman's vaunted reputation 



History Teaching in High Schools 53 

for accuracy. The main outlines of history, doubtless, are 
pretty thoroly established; but many of the details — which, 
like the warm flesh clothing the human frame, give expression 
and character to our persons — remain to be elicited. The mul- 
tiplication, therefore, of available historical materials — the un- 
ceasing flood of regesta, calendars of state papers, reports of 
historical societies, local histories, and historical dissertations 
— a flood which so dismays the soul of the litterateur — brings 
no regret to the historical scholar. Each fact ascertained is 
like a new piece fitted into one of those sectional picture 
puzzles. It not only contributes its part to the representation 
of the whole, but it enables us to fit in other blocks, the 
meaning of which before was in doubt. 

In looking back over this fragmentary discussion it occurs 
to me that the main impression left upon your minds may be 
that Sainte Beuve's ironical description of history, as "a fable 
agreed upon," may after all be right. So far as history is 
not merely a method but a body of fact, the impression may 
not be wholly unwarranted. Certainly the facts believed by 
the public are often doubtful, and long after the historian has 
exploded myth and legend they linger (to his disgust) in popu- 
lar narrative and school textbook. So far as concerns the sci- 
entific historian, however, this uncertainty as to the facts 
exists only in spite of his efforts and not because of any easy 
credulity on his part. His attitude is that of methodical doubt ; 
"the historian," says Seignobos, "ought to distrust a priori 
every statement of an author." It is only the unscientific his- 
torian who presents surmises as facts, and states as definitely 
proved that which at best is only probable. The proper atti- 
tude is that indicated by Renan, in the preface to one of his 
books. "Every phrase," said he, "must be accompanied by a 
'perhaps.' I believe I have made a sufficient use of the word, 
but if one finds a lack of them, just imagine the margins 
strewn to profusion with it; you will then have the measure 
of my exact thought." 

If history can give us as proved fact only the general out- 
lines of events, with here and there some sharp peak of ascer- 
tained detail jutting island-like above the surrounding cloud 
of doubt, of what value shall we account it as a study? Two 
lines of answer suggest themselves. History as method, I 
believe, constitutes the best means (I use the superlative 
advisedly) of any subject in school or college curricula for 



54 Indiana University 

training the judgment to deal with the controverted questions 
of modern political and social life. And altogether aside from 
the training which it affords, there are arguments for history 
drawn from its content. Culture, if I may so phrase it, is a 
matter of four dimensions. Travel, geography, descriptive 
science, supply the element of breadth; philosophy and ana- 
lytical science, including history as a tracing of the laws of 
phenomena and institutions, give depth or height. The elusive 
fourth dimension of inspiration is furnished by music, litera- 
ture, sculpture, painting, — by art, in fact, of all sorts; while 
the dimension of length, of chronological continuity, is afforded 
by history in its descriptive aspect. Here belongs history as 
a pageant, the reconstruction of the past. As on some fixed 
point we take our stand and see the majestic sweep of man's 
career we behold, to quote Bagehot, "the wonderful series 
going far back to the times of the old patriarchs with their 
flocks and herds, the keen-eyed Greek, the stately Roman, the 
watching Jew, the uncouth Goth, the horrid Hun, the settled 
picture of the unchanging East, the restless shifting of the 
rapid West, the rise of the cold and classical civilization, its 
fall, the rough impetuous Middle Ages, the vague warm pic- 
ture of ourselves and home." Details doubtless are blurred; 
whole sections indeed are blotted out by lack of documents; 
and the old dream of following back the stream to man's most 
primitive age must, so far as accurate knowledge goes, be aban- 
doned. Forever the beginning and the end of the series must 
remain shrouded in mystery. The mere historian can never 
attain to that completeness of knowledge professed by the 
early Christian writer, Lactantius, who says, "We who are 
instructed in the science of truth by the Holy Scriptures know 
the beginning of the world and its end." But much remains, — 
enough still to justify the dictum of Lord Bacon that "His- 
tories make men wise." And if this be true of histories, the 
finished product — the books in which are embodied but the 
net results of the historian's labor, — to how much greater wis- 
dom and culture must History conduce, itself both method and 
result — the science, in short, of man in his social relations as 
established by the study of documents ? 



History Teaching in High Schools 55 

THE SOCIAL EMPHASIS IN HISTORY INSTRUCTION 

(Abstract) 

By H. G. Childs, 
Associate Professor of Education in Indiana University. 

I. The specific values of a subject are dependent upon: 
(1) the nature and content of the subject as related to human 
life and activities; (2) the specific content of books and ma- 
terial available for study; (3) the excellence of the teaching 
force with respect to comprehensive knowledge of the field, 
methods, and equipment for teaching and study, and the per- 
sonality of the teacher. 

II. The nature of history. "The science of the develop- 
ment of men in their activity as social beings." — Bernheim. 

III. Tendencies of the past century toward the emphasis 
of social values. 

(1) The curricula of preparatory schools, about 1830-1850, 
show the chief emphasis in history to have been placed upon 
Grecian and Roman antiquities, — clearly a chronological record 
of rulers and wars appended to the study of the classical lan- 
guages. American history received scant attention and its 
scope was confined to a brief consideration of the form of 
government and a chronicle of wars. 

(2) Herbert Spencer, the English philosopher and writer, 
in his treatise on education, in 1860, says: "History should 
train for practical and civic duties, but as written it is value- 
less for guidance or for right principles of political action, and 
throws no light upon the science of society or the principles 
upon which national welfare depends or the problems of citi- 
zenship." 

(3) The Committee of Ten of the National Educational 
Association, in 1892, assigned mental discipline the first place 
in history instruction, giving social and moral values a place 
of secondary importance. 

(4) In 1899, the Committee of Seven, while placing much 
emphasis on disciplinary values, awarded the larger place to 
social and political values. On page 76 of the Report we find 
this statement: "History should be made real to him (the 
pupil) thru the study of the daily ordinary life of man, and 
he should be led to feel that only a very small portion of man's 
activities or strivings is expressed by legislatures, congresses, 
or cabinets ; that, especially under a government such as ours. 



56 Indiana University 

the industrial conditions, the bodily needs, the social desires, 
the moral longings, of the people, determine ultimately, if not 
immediately, the character of the law and the nature of the 
government itself. We do not think, however, that economic 
or social facts should be emphasized at the expense of govern- 
mental or political facts." On page 75 : "Slight notice should 
be taken of military campaigns in any portion of the study, 
etc." 

(5) Professor C. O. Davis, of the University of Michigan, 
in his recent book. High School Courses of Study, gives most 
emphatic stress to social and closely allied values in historical 
study. (See page 41 and following pages.) 

(6) In that admirable series of essays. The New History, 
published in 1914, Professor Robinson, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, says : "The new history emphasizes the economic founda- 
tions and relations of society as the cause of political and other 
changes." "The history of man begins with his industries." 
"History should furnish lessons from the past of practical 
value for present needs — does it?" His answer is: "Very 
little; we are held by tradition without taking into account 
changed conditions. We view the present problems with obso- 
lete emotions and attempt to settle them with obsolete reason- 
ing." 

(7) A growing social emphasis is shown by recent text- 
books in elementary and high school history. As the textbook 
is the course of study, so far as most schools are concerned, the 
textbook emphasis represents, in large degree, the teaching 
emphasis. 

(i) General histories written before 1900: Swinton (1876), Adams 
(1886), Fisher (1896). Average percent of space devoted 
to — economic history, 20; political history, 50.8; military his- 
tory, 29.1. 

(ii) Ancient histories written since 1900: Botsford (1912), Morey 
(1903), Myers (1913), Webster (1913), Westerman (1913). 
Average percent of space devoted to — economic history, 36.3; 
political history, 42.1; military history, 21,6. 

(iii) Medieval and modern histories written since 1900: Harding 
(1913), Myers (1904), West (1907). Average percent of 
space devoted to — economic history, 31.5; political history, 
50.6; military history, 17.9. 

(iv) American history: 

A. Eighth grade history (written before the newer tendency) : 
Burton (1900). Average percent of space devoted to — economic 
history, 10.6; political history, 64.3; military history, 25.1. 



History Teaching in High Schools 57 

B. Eighth grade history written more recently: Gordy (1905), 
Stephenson (1913). Average percent of space devoted to — eco- 
nomic history, 26.0; political history, 49.4; military history, 24.6. 

C. High school history (written before the newer tendency) : 
Johnston (1900), McLaughlin (1899). Average percent of space 
devoted to — economic history, 14.0; political history, 61.0; military 
history, 25.0. 

D. High school history written more recently: Ashley (1912), 
Foreman (1914), McLaughlin (1913), James and Sanford (1909). 
Average percent of space devoted to — economic history, 30.7; polit- 
ical history, 48.0; military history, 21.3. 

Summary of Topic III : From the above data, it is appar- 
ent that economic history has made decided gains since 1900 
and that the political and military emphasis in our history 
texts is diminishing. 

Whatever may have been the value of history in the past, 
its twentieth century emphasis should be clearly on the eco- 
nomic, industrial, and social relations of men. We are con- 
cerned with vital problems of today, — with problems of immi- 
gration, commerce, currency, pure foods, cost of living, intem- 
perance, woman suffrage, labor, control of corporations, taxa- 
tion, education, city improvement, social betterment, interna- 
tional peace, and a host of others, and with these a considera- 
tion of the political action best suited to their proper solution. 
Later-day historians no longer treat wars as the end of histo- 
rical writing and human achievement but as a means to gaining 
economic and political ends. 

IV. Are these social values being realized in the history 
instruction in Indiana high schools? 

There are bright spots where current events, community 
civics, vocational information, economical and industrial prob- 
lems, and important events of past ages of significance for 
present-day needs and interests are being considered; where 
teachers are experimenting with methods and subject-matter; 
where teachers are active in community life and are reading 
of social movements, until they have glimpsed the social view- 
point. But the vast bulk of history teaching is of mediocre 
or inferior quality and entirely lacking in social values; and 
as I see it, for the following reasons : 

(1) Lack of teachers with adequate historical training. 
All too frequently history is considered of minor importance 
and is assigned indiscriminately to teachers of other subjects 
to fill in an extra period on the program. A recent survey of 



58 Indiana University 

teacher preparation in Kansas high schools illuminates the 
points in question. Of 485 teachers of history only 278, or 
57 percent, had any preparation beyond high school courses 
in history ; 207, or 43 percent, had no preparation, while 151 
others not teaching history were prepared to do so, but had 
been shunted off into other fields of which they knew little 
or nothing. I doubt if these figures would vary materially 
for Indiana teachers of history. 

(2) Lack of daily preparation for the lesson. The most 
common symptom here is the teacher wedded to the textbook. 
Laziness and indifference divide the field with **too many 
subjects" as the most fruitful causes of unpreparedness. Dur- 
ing a ten-minute observation of an actual recitation, a teacher 
stopped three times to read as many paragraphs before she 
was able to formulate questions bearing upon the assignment 
for the day, and these questions when formulated were in 
terms of the words of the book, lacked aim, scope, and vitality. 
It is needless to add that the class recited no better than the 
teacher questioned and that the social values realized were 
decidedly negative. 

(3) Lack of knowledge by teachers of what historical in- 
terests and experiences pupils have as a basis for historical 
instruction. 

(4) Lack of equipment and lack of skill in using equip- 
ment when furnished. There is an over-use of words and too 
little use of maps, charts, globes, pictures, etc. 

(5) Teachers establish too few connections between 
events studied and vital problems in present-day life. It would 
seem to be good pedagogy during the spring of 1915 to refer 
to our present neutrality problems in a class in American 
history considering the neutrality problems of the Adams 
administration. Yet during a thirty-minute observation on 
this topic the writer did not hear the present problem referred 
to by either pupils or teacher ; when asked at the close of the 
recitation why he had not made the connection, the teacher 
confessed he had not thought of it. 

(6) Most teachers do not vitalize their teaching, but make 
their classroom procedure formal, abstract, and lifeless. There 
is too much teaching of logically arranged subject-matter and 
too little consideration of pupils' interests and possibilities. 

(7) Too many teachers are afflicted with what Professor 
Dewey characterizes as the "malady of thoroness." They lose 



History Teaching in High Schools 59 

all sense of relative values and reduce every topic to the same 
monotonous level of memory for isolated facts. 

(8) Lack of poise and inspiring personality mars the work 
of a considerable number of teachers of all subjects. 

V. Education, a means of conscious social evolution. Un- 
til recently man's progress was largely a matter of chance and 
unconscious blundering. The Greeks had some notion of the 
progress they had made, but had no visions of the future and 
hence became stagnant and declined. The peoples of the Mid- 
dle Ages and early modern times were too absorbed in specula- 
tions concerning a blissful hereafter to discover the secrets of 
development in terrestrial affairs. In twenty-five years Japan, 
as a result of conscious effort, rose from medieval impotence 
to world power. Germany has set for herself the goal of effi- 
ciency in all that pertains to human activity, and in the past 
half-century has come to surpass every other nation in mili- 
tary power, industrial organization, and social cooperation. 

The United States is the world's greatest democracy — 
greatest in area, natural resources, and population — ^but both 
Switzerland and England instruct us in political democracy, 
and we go to Germany, with its military ideals, for lessons in 
economic, industrial, and social democracy. If we have any 
definite ideals as to social and civic policy, they are not clearly 
in evidence. In the past the chief social value resulting from 
history instruction in our public schools seems to have been 
the cultivation of a superficial patriotism. 

The time seems opportune for a clearer and broader defini- 
tion of aims and values in social and political affairs, and for 
the reorganization of the content of our social sciences and of 
our methods of teaching them in high schools so as to realize 
thru our educational system the ends thus consciously set up. 

STANDARDS FOR COMMUNITY CIVICS 

By D. W. HoRTON, ^ '■ 

Principal Mishawaka High School. 

Civics as the science of civil government is persona non 
grata at present in live municipalities with fully socialized high 
schools. Governmental anatomy, constitutional dissection, ab- 
stract generalizations about unrelated and distant facts, dry 
dissertations upon the exclusive powers of the Senate, the 
revenue-originating powers of the House, the executive check 



60 Indiana University 

on the legislature, the interpretation of the Federal Consti- 
tution according to the aristocratic purpose of its founders — 
this sort of civics is soon to become an heirloom alongside its 
colleague, the history of dynasties, military campaigns, and 
constitutions. We are done with this abominable rubbish. 
Why? Because (1) we no longer believe in the study of civics 
for the exclusive purposes of mental discipline; (2) dry, ab- 
stract, foreign, unrelated facts will not produce the qualities 
of good citizenship; (3) the complex social, economic, and 
industrial urban life of today demands a new emphasis in civics 
teaching. 

What is this new emphasis to be? Here is what various 
men who have studied the problem think about it. Wilcox in 
a recent book, says, "Progress has been made in many places 
toward vital instruction in civics in the schools, but the work 
is just begun. School civics still tends to instruction in forms 
of governmental organization, not to a vital understanding of 
the activities of government and its relation to life."^ Dunn 
in the preface of his admirable little text on community civics 
says, "The function of the public school is to produce a good 
type of citizenship. There is no other sanction for the ex- 
istence of the public school." Charles DeGarmo declares, "It 
is not so much a training in the technical machinery of gov- 
ernment that the youth needs, as general intelligence and 
public spirit."- Municipal misrule is at once the shame and 
despair of democracy. It looks as if the people were perma- 
nently condemned to be the victims of chronic exploitive groups 
of political bandits. The remedy is a training in citizenship 
that fits the young by social intelligence, social disposition, 
and social efficiency to participate freely and effectively in 
political cooperation in all its manifold aspects. J. Lynn Bar- 
nard of the School of Pedagogy, Philadelphia, makes this 
statement, "Civics is itself a life — a growth — a point of view 
— democracy in the making."^ Again he says, "The need for 
such training was never more urgent. One decade of rational 
civics teaching in our public schools, beginning with the home 
environment and reaching out into the wider problems of 
government, would put an end to boss rule in city, State, and 



Delos F. Wilcox, Government by all the People, 277. 
Charles DeGarmo, Principles of Secondary Education, 1, 320. 
J. Lynn Barnard, N. E. A. Report, 191S, 89. 



History Teaching in High Schools 61 

nation."* Paul H. Hanus states that public education should 
train efficient citizens — men and women who recognize and 
appreciate the common interests of our democratic society.' 
For this purpose he recommends a course in civics and voca- 
tional guidance. Such a course, he says, should comprise a 
survey of the industrial and commercial life of the city, with 
especial reference to types of vocations, and should deal also 
in a nonpolitical and concrete way with the problems of good 
city government.^ 

An excellent statement of this position is made by the 
chairman of the Committee on Social Studies, of the commis- 
sion of the N. E. A. on the reorganization of secondary edu- 
cation: "Good citizenship should be the aim of the social 
studies of the high school. Facts, conditions, theories, and 
activities that do not contribute rather directly to the appre- 
ciation of methods of human betterment have no claim. Under 
this test the old civics, almost exclusively a study of govern- 
ment machinery, must give way to the new civics, a study of 
all manner of social efforts to improve mankind. It is not so 
important that the pupil know how the President is elected 
as that he shall understand the duties of the health officer 
in his community. The time formerly spent in the effort to 
understand the process of passing a law over the President's 
veto is now to be more profitably used in the observation of 
the vocational resources of the community. In line with this 
emphasis the committee recommends that social studies in 
the high school shall include such topics as the following: 
community health, housing and homes, public recreation, good 
roads, community education, poverty and the care of the poor, 
crime and reform, family income, savings banks and life insur- 
ance, human rights versus property rights, impulsive action 
of mobs, the selfish conservatism of tradition, and public utili- 
ties."^ 

We get still another angle on the question from Walter 
Weyl, who says, in essence, that the framework of our na- 
tional. State, and local government is but a shadow democ- 
racy, a high-hung Utopia. Furthermore, he says that the 
Constitution is the political wisdom of dead America; it was 



*Ibid., p. 90. 

" Paul H. Hanus, School Efficiency, 7. 

'Ibid., 53. 

^ United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1913, No. 41, p. 17. 



62 Indiana University 

in intention and in essence undemocratic. The greatest merit 
and the greatest defect of the Constitution is that it survived. 
It should have been recast every generation. Moreover, Weyl 
says, the real civic problems of today are denoted by the shrill 
political cries which fill the air. Men speak of sensational 
inequalities of wealth, insane extravagances, strident ostenta- 
tion ; and, in the same breath, of vast, boss-ridden cities, with 
wretched slums peopled by all the world, with pauperism, vice, 
crime, insanity, and degeneration rampant. We disregard, it 
is claimed, the life of our workmen. We muster women into 
dangerous factories. We enroll in our industrial army the 
anaemic children of the poor. We create hosts of unemployed 
men, whose sullen tramp ominously echoes thru the streets 
of our cities. Daily we read of the premature death of Ameri- 
can babies ; of the ravages of consumption and other diseases ; 
of the jostling of blindly competing races in factory towns; 
of the breakdown of municipal government; of the collusion 
of politicians, petty thieves, and malefactors of great wealth ; 
of the sharpening of class conflict; of the spread of hunger- 
bom degeneration, voicing itself in unpunished crimes of vio- 
lence; of the spread of social vice; and again he speaks of 
the stealing of governorships and legislatures ; of the distribut- 
ing of patronage ; of all the frauds and tricks that go to make 
up practical politics.^ William D. Lewis, principal of the Wil- 
liam Penn high school, Philadelphia, champion of the socialized 
high school, says our high schools should be developing an 
intelligent understanding of the meaning of our democratic 
government and social order, and an aggressive and efficient 
loyalty to public welfare.^ 

From these quotations, representing widely differing points 
of view, it is not difficult to reach the conclusion that the new 
emphasis demanded in civics teaching today is the subordina- 
tion of the analysis of national and State government to a 
study of the real civic problems of the community. Com- 
munity civics is the keynote in civics teaching today. Just 
what is implied by the term community civics ? By community 
civics is meant the civic problems which directly affect the 
community, the matters which touch us vitally as individuals 
of a group from which we derive certain benefits and to which 



^ Walter Weyl, The New Democracy, chaps. I-III. 

' William D. Lewis, Proceedings of Indiana State Teachers' Associa- 
tion, 1914, p. 49. 



History Teaching in High Schools 63 

we owe definite allegiance. For some questions, the com- 
munity may be the precinct, ward, or city group; for other 
matters the community may be the county group, the State 
group, or the national or even international group. If it be 
a question of a petition against a saloon, or the election of an 
honest alderman it is the ward group; if it be a question of 
pure and efficient water supply it is the city group ; if a ques- 
tion of working prisoners with short-time sentences on the 
roads, the county is the community ; if it be a problem of work- 
ingmen's compensation, the State would be the community; 
if a problem of the control of patent medicines, food adultera- 
tions, or the importation and sale of opiates, the nation is the 
group; and if it be the question of laying mines in neutral 
waters we share concern and responsibility with the interna- 
tional group. 

Take war, for instance. With our factories running half 
time or closed down altogether, with thousands of men out of 
employment, with the price of foodstuffs soaring, with the 
probability of a scarcity staring us in the face, is there any 
doubt that war is a community problem? War should be 
taught as a civic problem. But it should be taught in its 
reality. Our histories do not put war in the right light. The 
ghastly cost in life and money ; the enormous economic destruc- 
tion ; the misery, famine, and poverty ; where the burden falls ; 
the awful after results, the crime and graft — these are neg- 
lected and the glories and virtues of it praised. We as a nation 
are egotistic and impulsive enough, — what we need is the sort 
of teaching which will build up some inhibitions against war. 
This much as a digression without violating neutrality. 

Returning to community civics, it is clear from the fore- 
going illustrations that for some civic problems the nation 
may act for us as a community, just as in other instances the 
city acts as a group. It is perfectly obvious therefore that 
many civic problems which derive their importance to us from 
their local setting may reach thru county. State, and national 
government. Where this is true the problem should be studied 
in its various governmental relationships ; nevertheless, if effi- 
cient citizenship is the test of civics teaching, any ci.vic topic 
is of value solely because of its local and vital importance to 
the community. 

James Bryce says, in essence, that people in a free govern- 
ment have failed to respond to the good of the whole, to the 



64 Indiana University 

general interest. He advances the following reasons for the 
failure of democratic government: 

(1) Lack of civic intelligence of issues and men. People 
are ignorant of civic problems, they do not know what good 
paving is, a clean street, good city planning, proper and safe 
sewage, garbage disposal, city forestry, public sanitation. 
People do not understand the civic values of recreation thru 
playgrounds, parks, gymnasiums, and pools as contrasted to 
the commercialization of city amusements. There are no defi- 
nite standards in the public mind for efficient police, fire, and 
health protection. People elect their public servants and tell 
them to "go to it." They have not the ability to check up, 
supervise, or direct them. As a consequence a public officer 
must be almost a chronic thief or "scalawag" before public 
opinion is aroused against him. 

(2) Indolence and slackness in civic duty. There is the 
business man who would rather turn a dollar than go to the 
polls. Then there is the man who considers his civic duty 
performed when he has been to the polls. Some men just 
vegetate and cause problems. Mr. A, a good man in a city 
of ten thousand voters, decides he will stay at home on election 
day because of pressing business and because his vote amounts 
to only one ten-thousandth anyway; but suppose Mr. B, and 
Mr. C, and five hundred other good men do the same thing. 
There is the good man who runs up against the slick-oiled 
political machine, becomes apathetic, decides the whole thing 
is based on pull and too rotten to be trifled with. The remedy 
is to energize people by the formation of civic habits, organize 
clubs and societies, and instill civic interest. 

(3) The placing of the selfish and predatory interests of 
the small group above the public welfare. Our civics text 
always starts out by saying that government originated with 
the clan, but generally fails to show that government is still 
rather clannish and tends to originate with the smaller group. 
The early clan had a double standard, and in that respect it 
was up to date. This is best shown by two columns of oppo- 
site attitudes, the first the intra-group virtues, and the second 
the extra-group virtues : 

Intra-group Virtues Extra-group Virtues 

1. Mutual aid, 1. Destruction, 

2. Fair-dealing, 2. Treachery, 

3. Truthfulness, 3, Strategy, 



HisTORi^ Teaching in High Schools 65 

4. Self-restraint, 4. Unbridled freedom, 

5. Courtesy, 5. Incivility, 

6. Submission, 6. Courage, 

7. Friendliness. 7. Hostility. 

The attitudes in the first column were virtues when exer- 
cised toward one of their own clan, and those in the second 
column virtues when used against a member of another clan ; 
vice versa, the attitudes in the first column became vices when 
applied to one outside the clan, and those in the second column 
became vices when used toward one's fellow-clansman. 

The extra-group virtues have not entirely disappeared and 
become vices yet. Corporations, industrial concerns, business 
men, economic and social groups, and politicians still exercise 
the extra-group attitudes against their competitors, opponents, 
and the people. The selfish interest of the small group is 
pitted against the public welfare, and all sorts of stratagems 
and treachery are used to befog the issue and throw dust in 
the eyes of the people. Each group has its own peculiar ethics, 
and small group consciousness. They always have their can- 
didate, they are represented in the legislature, in the political 
convention, and in the newspapers. 

4. The party system of local government is partly respon- 
sible for the inefficiency in free government. The party ma- 
chine puts forth the argument of party loyalty. The force of 
party tradition is strong. Many vote the Democratic ticket in 
the city election because their grandfathers marched in an An- 
drew Jackson torch-light procession. Moreover, it requires 
some intelligence to vote, to fold the ticket correctly, and to 
split a ticket seems to require a degree of intelligence hardly 
reached yet by the average citizen. The result may be ineffi- 
ciency in office, the raiding of the people's treasury by political 
bandits, the triumph of small group interests, pulls, rake-offs, 
license, and the stacking of the cards against the people. 

I have endeavored to establish certain viewpoints and 
standards which will indicate the purpose, the subject-matter, 
and the method of a course in community civics. From the 
above causes of the inefficiency of free government we derive 
our aims: viz., (a) to give civic intelligence; (b) to energize, 
by the formation of the habits and the spirit of civic practice ; 
(c) to enlist the sympathy of students in the public welfare 
and place it where it belongs, i.e., above the small group inter- 
ests. These three aims would parallel the four main causes 



66 Indiana University 

taken from Bryce, because a study of the striving of democracy 
toward reform would be included in the first aim of giving 
civic intelligence. 

Taking the three aims of civics teaching, how may these 
aims be realized, if they are possible of realization at all? I 
am thoroly convinced, after seeing it tried out, that this thing 
can be done. In Mishawaka we have taken the following 
measures to secure the above aims: (a) A tentative syllabus 
of community civic problems has been compiled for class use ; 
(6) definite, practical, cooperative civic activities have been 




undertaken; and (c) wherever possible in connection with a 
civic problem the public welfare has been contrasted to the 
selfish interests of the small groups. 

The plan of this syllabus is to place the emphasis on com- 
munity civics. If a topic is affected considerably by its rela- 
tions to the State and national groups, these relations are in- 
cluded as a matter of course, but not as a matter of form. 
Civics should have no water-tight compartments. The logical 
organization of courses in the high school is giving way to the 
psychological. The high school is being socialized by the reor- 
ganization of courses according to the interests of the students 
and the social interests of the community. The emphasis and 
method of a course in community civics can be illustrated by 



History Teaching in High Schools 67 

a diagram of concentric circles. The inner circle of large area 
represents local community interests; the area between the 
inner and second circumference, the interests of the State 
group; and the third and outer area, the interests of the 
national group. The study of any civic problem may be repre- 
sented by the area of a sector, which may be conceived to 
originate at the center of the circles and proceed outward thru 
its various ranges of concentric interest. The boundary lines 
of the circles are of minimum importance and the boundaries 
of the sector of maximum importance. 

The sources for the topics included in this syllabus are as 
follows: (a) the references and syllabi named in the bibli- 
ography to this paper; (b) the recent yearly programs for the 
public meetings of the Woman's Civic Club, the Men's Civic 
League, Chamber of Progress, and the Commercial Club, all 
civic organizations of Mishawaka; (c) questionnaires filled out 
by citizens representing all viewpoints of the community, viz., 
city officials, lawyers, doctors, ministers, school men, mer- 
chants, employers of labor, laborers, and tradesmen. This 
questionnaire reads as follows: 

To Whom It May Concern : The civics class of the high school is 
making a study of community civics, that is, the civic problems of 
Mishavv^aka. State and national government is studied only as related 
to our own city problems and local interests. This has been recom- 
mended by civic leagues, civic and commercial clubs, and educators as 
being most helpful to the oncoming citizen and most valuable to the 
future city. The chief difficulty of a course of this sort is to find out 
just what are the civic problems of the city. 

It would be obviously unfair to accept the views of any one particular 
person, and hence we are asking the opinions of men and women repre- 
senting as wide a selection of views as possible. The answers to these 
questions will be tabulated by the civics teacher, and no one else will 
have access to the questionnaires. 

We ask you to set down five or more civic problems which are related 
to Mishawaka in its past, present, or future progress, which are suitable 
and important enough to be studied in the civics class. 

The Mishawaka High School. 

Each student in the civics class was required to deliver and 
collect five of these questionnaires. The problems suggested 
for study were then tabulated and set in the order of their 
importance as determined by their frequency. This syllabus 
is not recommended because it has reached a state of perfec- 
tion. It is merely tentative, and subject to continuous reor- 
ganization. 



68 Indiana University 

Having disposed of the syllabus of topics for a course in 
community civics, I wish to call your attention to the definite, 
practical, cooperative civic activities undertaken for the pur- 
pose of forming habits of civic practice. First, let me call 
your attention to a number of mock affairs. Mock affairs 
do some good in that they give the form of participation at 
least, and in that respect are better than nothing. The nearer 
the mock situation approaches the actual practical standards 
of the outside world the higher the value of the results. 

The class organized itself into a city council, legislature, 
woman's club, men's civics league, and chamber of progress, 
and transacted the customary business of those assemblies 
according to the usual rules of order in force at their meet- 
ings. This is a valuable sort of activity for a civics class, when 
planned and worked out carefully in advance, with a definite 
assignment of bills or ordinances for discussion at the meeting. 
The practical activities, however, have given by far the better 
response. The following practical civic activities have been 
decided upon as being most helpful: (1) Attendance at the 
public discussions of the women's civic club, the chamber of 
progress, and the men's civic league. (2) Attendance and 
report of the meetings of the city council where business inter- 
esting to the class is considered. (3) The study of the details 
of a case in court and a visit to the trial court. (4) A "swat- 
the-fly" campaign in which the class will cooperate with the 
civic organizations of the city, and besides present a film and 
lecture on "swatting the fly." (5) Attendance, report, and 
discussion of public lectures of a civic nature. (6) Organ- 
ization of the civics class into the high school civics club as 
an auxiliary of the city civic clubs, with definite cooperative 
opportunities. (7) Distributing of charity at various times, 
and collecting a list of needy families. (8) Care and encour- 
agement of birds in the city. (9) Spring clean-up. (10) Gar- 
dening of vacant lots. (11) Securing speakers on civic sub- 
jects for the auditorium assemblies of the high school. 
(12) Excursions to factories, the library, postoffice, city hall, 
gas plant, water works, electric plant, county courthouse, and 
the offices there, and trips of inspection of streets, lots, 
bridges, etc. 

The civics class draws upon the public as much as possible. 
Most of the city officers are called upon to give talks to the 
class explaining their work; the lawyers, representatives. 



History Teaching in High Schools 69 

newspaper men, and members and officers of the city civic 
organizations are drafted into service. The attitude toward 
this kind of work in Mishawaka is exceptionally enthusiastic. 
Almost all, without exception, seem very glad to give their 
time and services, and generally seem quite pleased to explain 
their work. 

A. SYLLABUS ON COMMUNITY PROBLEMS 

I. City Growth. 

1. History of the growth of Mishawaka in relation to: (a) popula- 

tion, (6) public improvements, (c) industries, (d) institutions, 
(e) government, (/) civic problems. 

2. City growth in general, showing: (a) statistics of rural and 

urban population, (6) change in social, economic, and industrial 
conditions incident to city growth. 

3. Civic problems resulting from city growth, such as: (a) health 

and sanitation, (6) housing, {c) public utilities, (d) city insur- 
ance against fire, crime, etc., (e) sewerage, (f) paving, {g) rec- 
reation, {h) and other cooperative enterprises. 

II. Health and Public Sanitation. 

1. Health and physical efficiency is an economic and civic asset, and 

the city must protect the people from (a) loss of life by pre- 
ventable diseases, {b) economic loss thru sickness from pre- 
ventable causes, {c) relation of good health to physical effi- 
ciency and character. 

2. Measures to secure public health, such as: (a) the ventilation of 

homes, public buildings, workrooms, and public conveyances, 
(6) smoke and noise nuisance, (c) plumbing, unsanitary out- 
buildings, sewage, (rf) pure water, the wells, and an adequate 
supply of water for all purposes, stream protection, (e) pure 
food laws, inspection of food, markets, dairies, slaughter-houses, 
public eating-places, and ice-cream factories, (/) recreation 
facilities, gymnasium, playgrounds, athletic fields, {g) control 
of contagion, quarantine obedience, medical inspection in the 
schools, school nurses, vaccination, and prevention, {h) city 
cleanliness by means of public baths, garbage disposal, street 
cleaning, and care of waste paper, (i) proper lighting, heating, 
and inspection, (;) child labor, {k) "swat the fly" campaign, 
(0 vital statistics, (m) service of hospitals, and dispensaries. 

III. Recreation. 

1. Recreation versus commercialized amusements is a problem of the 
city because of the (a) limited play space in open air, (6) mo- 
notonous factory or office work, (c) necessity to combat dan- 
gerous commercialized amusements, (d) need for physical effi- 
ciency, i.e., "recreation is re-creation." 
2 Recreation may be of two kinds: (a) physical recreation de- 
manded by certain classes of workers, such as recesses, play- 



70 Indiana University 

grounds, athletics, gymnasiums, public baths, and swimming- 
pools, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Y.M, and Y.W.C.A., 
municipal dance-halls, gardens, (6) intellectual recreations are 
needed by many types of workers, viz., libraries, reading-rooms, 
concerts, lectures, studies, (c) recreation as mere relaxation or 
amusement, theaters, "movies," shows, dancing, etc. 

IV. Civic Beauty. 

1. Importance of the city beautiful as man's home; effect on the 

visitor, impression on the citizen, and economic effect on sale 
of property. 

2. Items affecting civic beauty are (a) architecture of residences 

and business section, (b) lawn contests, (c) work of city for- 
ester, (d) streets cleaned, (e) vacant lots gardened, (/) clean-up 
day> {§) river front, (h) parks and drives, (i) smoke abate- 
ment, ij) elimination of bill-boai*ds, (A;) suppression of noise, 
(/) proper care of public buildings and lawns, (m) effect of 
the gateways to the city, depots, Lincoln Highway, etc. 

V. City-Planning. 

1. The human, economic, industrial, and efficiency values of city- 

planning, as applied to the plan of Mishawaka. 

2. Study of well-planned cities like Washington, Paris, Vienna, and 

Philadelphia, showing grouping and arrangement of points of 
civic interest, approaches, ease of access and traffic. 

3. Examples of poorly planned cities. 

4. Application of the above facts to the civic plan of Mishawaka. 

VI. Public Utilities. 

1. Gas, electricity, street cars, telephone, railroads, express, banks. 

2. Franchises — granting and taxing of, regulation, quality of service 

rendered, reasonableness of rates. 

VII. Government and City Owned Public Service Enterprises. 

1. Streets, Lincoln Highway, bridges, library, city hall, water supply, 

mail service, postal savings bank, parcels post — all operated in 
Mishawaka vmder government ownership. 

2. Cost, quality of service rendered, and general principle of gov- 

ernment ownership vs. privately owned public utilities. 

VIII. City Insurance for the Protection of Life and Property. 

1. Police system, fire department, accident prevention, "safety first" 

campaigns. 

2. Assistance rendered by county. State, and nation thru officers, 

militia, army and navy, live-saving stations, lighthouses, etc. 

IX. Order and Justice by Means of Laws and Law Enforcement. 

1. The government machinery for the making of (a) local ordi- 

nances, (b) State laws, (c) national laws, (d) international 
laws. 

2. The governmental means of the enforcement of law — mayor and 



History Teaching in High Schools 71 

police, county officers, governor and militia, federal officers, 
President and army and navy, international tribunals. 
3. Courts, police, city, district. State, federal. 
X. Public Charity and Correction. 

1. Crime and reform, prison reform, juvenile courts, industrial 

schools, and penal farms. 

2. Poverty and care of poor. 

3. Care of defectives. 

4. Unemployment problems, and agencies for their solution. 

5. Workmen's compensation laws. 

6. Age and service pensions. 

7. Hospitals and outdoor relief (of all kinds). 

8. Regulation of the liquor traffic, patent medicines, and sale of 

opiates. 

XL Industries in Mishawaka. 

1. A classification of occupations and workers into the following 

groups: (a) unskilled or common laborers, (6) tradesmen or 
skilled workers, (c) clerical pursuits, (d) merchandizing and 
salesmanship, (e) managerial pursuits, (f) professional classes. 

2. Cataloging of the industries, raw materials, products, classes of 

workers, factory systems, etc. 

3. Study and survey of wages, hours, working conditions, industrial 

hygiene, opportunities for advancement, risks, and dangers, etc. 

4. Other problems of labor and welfare of the worker in Mishawaka: 

(a) workmen's benefits, (6) clubs, (c) rest-rooms, (d) high 
cost of living, (e) standard of living, (f) recreation, (g) oppor- 
tunities for enjoying life. 

XII. Programs of the Private, Semi-Public, and Civic Organizations 

OF THE City. 

1. The Associated Charities. 

2. The Woman's Club. 

3. The Men's Civics League. 

4. The Mishawaka Chamber of Progress. 

5. The Commercial Club. 

6. Social program of the lodges, churches, social centers, and other 

organizations of the city. 

XIII. City Government. 

1. The Indiana plan for county government. 

2. Reforms proposed for city government — commission form, nonpar- 

tisan election, city-manager system, budget, etc. 

XIV. County Government. 

1. The Indiana plan for county government. 

2. Reforms proposed for government of the county: (a) short bal- 



72 Indiana University 

lot, (6) annual budget, (c) economy in purchase of county sup- 
plies, (d) nonpartisan elections, (e) civil service, (f) reform of 
county jails, (h) business manager system, (i) commission 
form of county government, (;) abolishment of the fee system, 
(A;) State control of county asylums, (/) taxation reform. 

XV. State Government. 

1. Plan of the government of the State of Indiana; executive, legis- 

lative, and judicial. 

2. Reforms in State government: need of a constitutional conven- 

tion, to include up-to-date measures, such as initiative and 
referendum, reforms in county government, tax laws, election 
laws, and the form of city government, liquor traffic, recall, 
woman suffrage. 

XVI. National Government. 

1. The plan of national government; executive, legislative, and judi- 

cial. 

2. Reforms under way; national issues; international relations. 

B. BIBLIOGRAPHY 
I. Textbooks for Use as Manuals or References 
Dunne, Arthur W. Community and the Citizen. D. C. Heath and Co., 
Boston. (75 cents.) 

Foreman, Samuel E. Advanced Civics. The Century Co., N. Y. 
($1.25.) 

Garner, J. W. Government in the United States. American Book 
Co., N. Y. ($1.00.) 

Guitteau, W. B. American Government and Politics. Houghton- 
Mifflin, Cambridge. ($1.00.) 

Nida, William L. City, State, and Nation. MacMillan. (75 cents.) 
II. General References 

Bliss, W. D. P. Encyclopaedia of Social Reform. Funk & Wagnalls, 
N. Y. ($7.50.) 

Hart, A. B. Sources in American Government. Longmans, Green, 
and Co., N. Y. 

Statesman's Year Book, for current year. MacMillan, N. Y. ($3.00.) 

The World Almanac. Press Publishing Co., N. Y. (35 cents.) 

III. Special Books 

Addams, Jane. The Spirit of Youth in the City Streets, MacMillan, 
N. Y. ($1.25.) 

Addams, Jane. New Conscience and an Ancient Evil. MacMillan, 
N. Y. (50 cents.) 

Allen, William H. Civics and Health. Ginn, Chicago. ($1.25.) 

Allen, William H. Efficient Democracy. Dodd-Mead Co., N. Y. 
($1.25.) 



History Teaching in High Schools 73 

Allen, William H. Woman's Part in Goveryiment. Dodd-Mead Co., 

N. Y. ($1.50.) 

American School of Correspondence. Chicago. Highway Construc- 
tion. Water Supply ($1.00). Seivers and Drains ($1.00). 

Bryce, James A. American Commonwealth. MacMillan, N. Y. 

($4.00.) 

City charters, city ordinances, city reports of your locality. 
Cleveland, F. A. Organized Democracy. Longmans, N. Y. ($2.50.) 
Cleveland, F. A. Municipal Administration and Accounting. Long- 
mans, N. Y. ($2.00.) 

Fuld, L. F. Police Administration. Putnam, N. Y. ($3.00.) 
Goodnow, F. J. City Government iyi the United States. Century, 

N. Y. ($1.25.) 

Henderson, C. R. Introduction to Study of Dependent, Defective, and 

Delinquent Classes. Heath, Boston. ($1.50.) 

Howe, F. C. The City the Hope of Democracy. Scribners, N. Y. 

($1.50.) 

Johnson, E. R. Municipal Oivnership and Franchises. American 

Academy Political and Social Science, Philadelphia. 

Lindsey, B. B. The Beast. Doubleday, N. Y. ($1.50.) 

Macy, Jesse. Party Organization and Party Machinery. Century, 

N. Y. ($1.25.) 

Mero, E. B. American Playground. Baker and Taylor Co., N. Y. 

($2.00.) 

Merriam, C. E. Primary Elections. University of Chicago Press, 

Chicago. ($1.25.) 

Munro, W. B. Government of American Cities. MacMillan, N. Y. 

($2.00.) 

Ward, E. J. Social Center. Appleton, N. Y. ($1.50.) 

Waring, Geo. E. Street Cleaning and the Disposal of the City's 

Waste. Doubleday and McClure, N. Y. 

Weyl, Walter. The Nerv Democracy. MacMillan, N. Y. (50 cents.) 
Wilcox, D. F. The American City. MacMillan, N. Y. ($1.25.) 
Wilcox, D. F. Great Cities in America. MacMillan, N. Y. ($1.25.) 
Wilcox, D. F. Government by All the People. MacMillan, N. Y. 
Wilcox, D. F. Municipal Franchises. English Nev^s. ($5.00.) 
Wilson, Woodrow. The State. Heath, N. Y. ($2.00.) 
Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom. Doubleday, N. Y. ($1.00.) 
Yale University Lectures on Citizenship. Yale University Press. 

($1.15 each) : 

A. T. Hadley. Relations between Freedom and Responsibility in 

Democratic Government. 
Charles Hughes. Conditions of Progress in Democratic Govern- 
ment. 
Elihu Root. The Citizen's Part in Government. 
William H. Taft. Four Aspects of Civic Duty. 



74 Indiana University 

Zeublin, Charles. American Mtinicipal Progress. MacMillan, N. Y. 
($1.25.) 

Zeublin, Charles. Decade of Civic Development. MacMillan, N. Y. 

IV. Magazines, Periodicals, Newspapers 
American City Magazine. Civic Press, N. Y. ($2.00.) 
Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science. Phila- 
delphia. 

County Government, May, 1913. ($1.00.) 

Housing and Town Planning. 

City papers. 

Metropolitan daily. 

Nation. N. Y. ($3.00.) 

National Municipal Review. National League, Philadelphia. ($5.00.) 

Playground. Playground and Recreation Assn., N. Y, ($2.00.) 

Political Science Quarterly. Ginn Co., N. Y. ($3.00.) 

Public Service. Maurice E. Eldridge. (25 cents.) 

Survey. Survey Associates, N. Y. ($1.75.) 

V. For the Teacher 

Barnard. -J. Lynn. Teaching of Physics. In N. E. A. Report, 1913, 
pp. 84-90. 

U. S. Bureau of Education, Report of the Committee on Social Studies 
Reorganization of Secondary Education. (Bulletin 41), 1915. 

U. S. Bureau of Education, Abstract of N. E. A. Committee on Social 
Studies. (Civic Education Series No. 4.) 

An Outline for the Study of Current Political, Economic, and Social 
Problems. (Indiana University Bulletin, Vol. XII, No. 7.) 

Chicago Course. Syllabus including Topics on Industrial, Civic, and 
Sanitary Conditions of the City. 

U. S. Bureau of Education, Proposed List of Topics for Community 
Civics. (Civic Education Series No. 4.) 

Kerschensteiner, George. Education for Citizenship. Rand, McNally, 
Chicago. (75 cents.) 

New England History Teachers' Association, Outline for the Study of 
American Civil Government. MacMillan. (50 cents.) 

Syllahis for the Teachers of Civics in the Schools of Cincinnati. 
Syllabus of Civics for the Secondary Schools of Nexv York. 

REALIZABLE EDUCATIONAL VALUES IN HISTORY 

By Calvin 0. Davis, 
Junior Professor of Education, University of Michigan. 

This is an age of educational thinking. More particularly, 
it is an age of curriculum thinking. Teachers and patrons alike 
are realizing more than ever before not only that the program 



History Teaching in High Schools 75 

of studies is the backbone of any school system, but that the 
wise administration of it constitutes one of the most difficult 
problems of school officials. Today tradition no longer serves 
as an adequate guide for curriculum making. Neither does 
mere individual opinion any longer suffice — even tho it be 
the opinion of those ranking high in the world of educational 
administration in general. Hence it is rapidly coming about 
that all keen, alert, and progressive educational supervisors 
and executives are scrutinizing their school systems, entering 
upon critical analyses of the formulated aims, means, and 
methods found therein, and seeking to make the results of the 
school efforts really commensurate with the needs of the 
recipients. 

While of course this scientific approach is the ideal which 
today is set for nearly every phase of educational work, truth 
compels the acknowledgment that, as yet, realization of the 
hope is far from being attained in any quarter. Each group 
of analyzers and investigators is feeling its way slowly and 
each frankly declares that, for the most part, no absolutely 
solid ground has as yet been reached. Nevertheless, each 
twelve months shows advances that were scarcely to be 
dreamed of in the year previous. 

As already implied, no phase of school work has recently 
received more critical and constructive analysis than has the 
program of studies, and of all the various subjects which 
compose the typical program of studies none is undergoing 
more thoro scrutiny and reorganization than is the subject 
of history. Not only are you educators of Indiana who are 
assembled here today making this the center of your thought 
and deliberations, but likewise we in Michigan are all astir 
about the matter and have at work this very hour at least 
three separate committees that are struggling with the same 
vexing problem. More than this, the National Educational 
Association has had for some months a rather large committee 
devoting its attention to the reorganization of secondary edu- 
cation, and not an inconsiderable portion of the time and 
efforts of this committee are being expended on the topic of 
history. In like manner the North Central Association of 
Colleges and Secondary Schools has undertaken a study of a 
slightly different phase of this same subject and expects to 
be ready to make a tentative report at the annual meeting of 
the association next month in Chicago. 



76 Indiana University 

So we find ourselves in good company — indeed, in excellent 
company. Nevertheless, we who have an especial interest in 
historical studies are contemplating the various analyses and 
investigations of the subject with bated breath, hoping surely 
that the truly serious organic defects in the courses may be 
discovered and remedied, but also fearing, perchance, that 
some of our own particular pet hobbies and fancies respecting 
the organization and administration of the work may be black- 
listed or eradicated altogether. Nevertheless, I think we all 
clearly recognize the fact that the present arrangement and 
treatment of the subject of history — particularly in our high 
schools — is unsatisfactory. We, moreover, recognize that any 
further delay and postponement of a rather complete modifi- 
cation of the existing courses will doubtless result in a loss of 
prestige for the work, if not in a somewhat general abandon- 
ment of certain aspects of it altogether. 

Hence it is that every sanely conducted experiment in- 
tended to test the wisdom and validity of newly advanced 
ideas respecting the work calls for hearty approval and co- 
operation on the part of all administrators. So also must criti- 
cal analyses which are sympathetically undertaken be encour- 
aged and given attention. Thus collectively and cooperatively 
setting themselves to the task will the history teachers and 
the administrators of school programs slowly and gradually 
work out together a more satisfactory regime in their field 
of labor. 

The special topic for consideration this morning is Stand- 
ards of Values in History and the administrative conclusions 
which logically follow from such data. Needless to say, I 
think, scientifically speaking, there are no such standards. 
In confessing this charge, however, permit me to remind you 
again that in this respect the subject of history is not one whit 
behind any of the other branches comprising the program of 
studies for secondary schools. Within each field some pioneer 
work has been started, but, I repeat, solid ground has not 
positively been reached in any department. 

Perhaps one of the most stimulating general studies that 
has recently been made respecting curriculum planning is 
that of Professor Yocum. In his discussion entitled Determi- 
nants of the Course of Study, Mr. Yocum marshals some old 
ideas in a somewhat novel manner, and thereby re-emphasizes 
old principles and maxims, and compels renewed acceptance 



History Teaching in High Schools 77 

of them by reason of the plausible way in which they are 
presented. 

The fundamental thoughts of Yocum's analysis may be 
paraphrased thus: 1. Education consists of two elements, 
knowledge and power, or to employ Mr. Yocum's own words: 
"Education depends on (a) the retention of experience, and 
(b) the control of new experience thru activity which has been 
given continuity and dominance by the old." 2. Knowledge, 
as defined by Mr. Yocum, is an idea or activity in the rela- 
tionships in which it is retained by the learners ; while power 
is the resulting forms of self-activity which shape or control 
one's future experience. 

By further analysis Mr. Yocum concludes that the rela- 
tionships in which ideas or activities establish themselves are 
five in number (and only five). These are: 

(1) As vague impressions, resulting in the course of time 
in permanent interests, tastes, ideals, and points of view. 

(2) As single isolated or accidental relationships, result- 
ing in the acquisition and mastery of words. 

(3) As many-sided associations or relationships, result- 
ing in an enhancement of the clearness and control of the old 
mental content, yielding thereby richer and more complete 
ideas, feelings, and volitions. 

(4) As specific relationships, resulting in habits and sys- 
tem. 

(5) As general relationships (the material for which is 
derived in but few instances and from a limited type of ex- 
periences) resulting in general power or applicability in other 
fields than the one from which the experience is obtained. 

That is, Yocum regards the possibilities of education as 
including impressions, vocabularies, interconnections, habits, 
and applications, and concludes that the first, fourth, and fifth 
(i.e., impressions, habits, and applications) are today sadly 
neglected in most of our schools. 

All this suggests Herbart's universally valid principles and, 
I repeat, is a formulation of familiar ideas clothed in the newer 
styles of the twentieth century. However, I have no quarrel 
with Mr. Yocum on his analysis. Indeed, I find myself, for 
the most part, in pretty complete accord with him. Never- 
theless, it suits my purposes better, it is clearer to my type of 
mind, to approach the question of educational values largely 
from the standpoint of externally functioning qualities. I 



78 Indiana University 

choose to be somewhat more concrete and specific in my 
analyses, and to suggest, at least by way of illustration, how 
and in what respect values are realizable. Permit me, how- 
ever, to acknowledge frankly (as I have already stated most 
sincere men in any field of educational investigation today are 
obliged to do) that I have no scientifically formulated data 
for what I have further to say, but that the ideas that I shall 
advance are the administrative formulations of some com- 
monly accepted conclusions that have the support of many 
school men and educators and that commend themselves to 
my personal judgment. 

On what, then, does educational value depend and of what 
does it consist ? In answering this question let me, too, group 
the elements somewhat upon the kind, character, quality, and 
arrangement of the subject-matter itself. Without stopping 
at this point to discuss the topic, it seems reasonable, plausible, 
and in harmony with the accepted psychology of the day to 
affirm that no two subjects in the program of studies can pos- 
sibly possess identical intrinsic educational values. Botany, 
for example, is different from Latin, and history is different 
from both. Hence, to repeat, the intrinsic character of the 
content itself is a very large determinant of the values that 
are realizable. Second, educational value of a subject is de- 
pendent upon the reaction or response which the individual 
makes to the ideas when they are presented. Mere passive 
indifference in class will never bring educational value of any 
significance to a pupil, even tho the subject-matter itself were 
as rich in mental, moral, and aesthetic problems as the mines 
of Ophir were full of gems, or the hives of Hymettus were full 
of honey. The wealth of the universe may be unseen and un- 
sought or it may be exposed to clear view and be easily attain- 
able, but so long as no personal effort is put forth to acquire 
it, only incidental benefits, to say the most, will be derived. 
Only to him to knocks will the gates be open ; and he only who 
seeks shall find. In short, that idea is alone educative which 
(to employ again some familiar words of Herbart) "has com- 
pleted the circle of thought," — i.e., which has gone thru all 
aspects of the thinking process and has eventuated in modi- 
fied action. These processes involve attitudes, modes of ex- 
pression, habits, character, and individuality, and hence are 
seen to differ but slightly from Mr. Yocum's classification of 
relationships. 



History Teaching in High Schools 79 

At least three recognizable and highly important corol- 
laries follow from these two fundamental principles. These 
are: 

(1) Personal reactions or responses to presentations of 
ideas will occur, provided the interest of the individual has 
been thoroly aroused and perpetuated. 

(2) Interest will arise, mental life will quicken, curiosity 
and expectancy will develop, provided the educative material 
presented is closely related to the past experience of the youth 
who is being taught, is adapted to his stage of development, 
and can be seen by him to be capable of functioning in his 
own life, — either somewhat immediately or at least not too 
remotely. 

(3) This comprehension by the pupil of the material that 
is being presented and this recognition of the possibility of 
having the acquisitions function in his own life will occur, 
provided (a) that the course is appropriately organized, i.e., 
that suitable material has been selected and appealingly ar- 
ranged, and (b) that the teacher possesses such a knowledge 
of the subject to be taught, of the mental, emotional, volitional, 
and social qualities of the pupils to be educated, and of the 
arts of pedagogy that he may be able firmly to implant the 
idea in the first place, establish natural interconnections, sug- 
gest generalizations, and initiate (right in the classroom or at 
least directed from the classroom) ways and means of putting 
the newly acquired knowledge and powers into appropriate 
applications. 

This, too, is good Herbartian doctrine. It is also, to my 
mind, good twentieth-century doctrine, for the essence of it 
is that education merely for the sake of education is obsolete, 
and indicates but a surviving strain of medievalism. It holds 
that the gaining of knowledge and power as ends in them- 
selves is not one whit different in principle from the hoarding 
of gold or the unlimited acquisition of lands. Both practices 
are selfish, greedy, unsocial, antiprogressive, and despicable. 
Certain it is that any such training or instruction is utterly 
out of place in a system of schools supported by society at 
large in a democratic state. A truly democratic society taxes 
itself not that it may serve the individual for the sake of the 
individual only, but for the benefit which such individual 
training brings to the many. 

But to get back. The contention has been made that edu- 



80 Indiana University 

cational value depends primarily upon the character of the 
response which a given individual puts forth when the chosen 
educational stimuli are presented. This response in turn de- 
pends upon the degree of interest which is aroused in the 
pupil ; the amount of interest aroused is again determined by 
the completeness with which the pupil comprehends the sub- 
ject-matter and such clearness of the functioning qualities 
contained will be realizable to the degree that the teacher is 
a master of the special field of knowledge presented, under- 
stands child and adolescent nature, is skilled in the arts of 
pedagogy, and knows somewhat intimately the dominant 
phases of our twentieth-century American life. Hence, in the 
final analysis, educational value is determined largely by the 
teacher, and a thoroly capable teacher could doubtless extract 
educational values for her pupils from any subject one might 
be pleased to name. Socrates, Jesus, Pestalozzi were men of 
this type. So occasionally are some few such teachers discov- 
ered in our own day. However, it is doubtful if even Socrates, 
Jesus, or Pestalozzi could have succeeded as they did had they 
been forced to follow any prescribed procedure. Each of these 
great teachers was unfettered by school systems, was respon- 
sible to none but his own self, and was driven forward by an 
unusual and indomitable personality. For us in the complex 
society of today, with our school systems refined in their 
organization and administration nearly to the 7ith power, even 
a great teacher — great, that is, by nature — could scarcely be 
able to realize his powers, were he to rely on his own knowl- 
edge and ideals alone. For the ninety and nine ordinary 
teachers, a conscious striving for teaching power is absolutely 
imperative. For ninety-nine percent of us at least, therefore, 
an analysis of the realizable educational values contained in 
the subject to be taught is highly important, for without a 
clear idea of what is possible of attainment good teaching is 
a mere chance circumstance. 

Shorn, then, of all contributory factors, each school sub- 
ject may be judged, with reference to its educational value, as 
follows : 

(1) A subject may possess auxiliary value, i.e., value in 
helping to get the full value from other school subjects. Thus, 
geometry possesses auxiliary value for the study of physics ; 
history auxiliary value for the study of literature ; and a for- 
eign language auxiliary value for the study of the vernacular. 



History Teaching in High Schools 81 

(2) A subject may possess practical or utilitarian value. 
By this expression is here meant the knowledge or power 
that can be utilized outside the schoolroom, immediately or 
later on, in gaining a livelihood or in adding to one's material 
advantages. Thus, hygiene, physics, English, manual train- 
ing, and civics possess intrinsically varying degrees of prac- 
tical values, depending on the person pursuing them, the pur- 
pose with which they are pursued, and the content and method 
employed. 

(3) All subjects possess, in varying degrees, intellectual 
value, or the quality of developing the power to think. The 
training only is what is meant here by intellectual value, 
whether that training be specific or general; this classifica- 
tion does not take account of the value of the subject as 
knowledge. For example, the intellectual value of a subject 
is found in the extent to which it develops the following pow- 
ers: (a) Observation, or the ability to take note of the de- 
tails of an object or a situation, (b) Attention, or the ability 
to concentrate the mind upon the object, event, or process 
under consideration, (c) Perception, or the ability to inter- 
pret a present sensation by organized earlier experiences. 
(d) Analysis, or the ability to separate an entirety into its 
constituent parts, (e) Comparison, or the ability to bring dif- 
ferent elements into common view. (/) Discrimination, or the 
ability to select essentials, (g) Imagination, or the ability to 
construct mental pictures, (h) Conception, or the ability to 
formulate general notions. (0 Association, or the ability to 
relate mental contents and processes, (j) Judgment, or the 
ability to formulate conclusions respecting two or more pre- 
cepts or concepts, (k) Reason, or the ability to formulate a 
series of connected judgments. (I) Memory, or the ability to 
recall mental contents and processes once they have passed 
out of consciousness, (m) Expression in oral, written, and 
graphic forms. (7?.) Resourcefulness, or the power to meet a 
situation and to adapt means to ends. 

(4) A subject may possess political and civic value. Such 
a subject fosters an interest in the institutions of the State 
and municipality, and inspires a feeling of loyalty to them. 
It also possesses the power of developing such qualities as 
civic pride, public spirit, civic consciousness, patriotism, re- 



82 Indiana University 

spect for law, and political responsiveness. The ideal sought 
thru such studies is good citizenship. 

(5) A subject may possess social values, because it de- 
velops the power to make social adjustments with ease and 
readiness, and thus removes a source of social friction. Such 
an ideal does not ignore the value of individuality; it seeks 
rather the adjustment of individual traits to social ends. It 
includes the development of such personal qualities as tolera- 
tion, sympathy, consideration for the rights and opinions of 
others, courtesy, graciousness, tactfulness, fairness, and co- 
operation. On the negative side the ideal may be expressed 
by the motto, "Live and let live" ; on the positive side, by the 
Biblical conception of neighborliness. 

(6) A subject may possess ethical value, that is, social 
value viewed from the standpoint of morality. This means 
the power to stimulate and develop those personal qualities 
which collectively constitute good character. These qualities 
include (among others) : courage, temperance, chastity, honor, 
self-sacrifice, self-control, sagacity, accuracy, thoroness, punc- 
tuality, forcefulness, industry, justice, benevolence, integrity, 
magnanimity, faithfulness, truthfulness. 

The ideal to be sought under this caption of values ex- 
presses itself in the maxims, "To thine own self be true" 
and "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do 
ye even so unto them." 

(7) A subject may possess religious value. By this is 
meant the power to develop a spirit of reverence, devotion, 
and submissiveness to the Deity; faith, trust, and confidence 
in some phase of organized religion ; and an acceptance of 
religious obligations, with a readiness to cooperate in religious 
undertakings and ceremonies. 

(8) A subject may possess aesthetic value. This concept 
includes the idea of a power to stimulate a love for the beau- 
tiful in its various forms — material, intellectual, and spiritual 
— and a personal conformity to the accepted laws of good 
taste. The aesthetic appeal is chiefly to the emotional side of 
human nature, and involves an appreciation of the elements 
of material, color, arrangement, and proportion. 

(9) A subject may possess conventional value, that is, 
the power to develop the graces, manners, and conventions 
that give standing in polite society. The value of such train- 
ing lies in the fact that certain forms and standards of con- 



History Teaching in High Schools 83 

duct are traditionally and conventionally expected of educated 
persons. 

(10) A subject may possess cultural value (in the nar- 
row meaning of the term) . By this is meant the quality that 
directly and immediately satisfies, that finds its end chiefly, 
if not solely, in the pursuit of the subject for its own sake, 
or that prepares for the enjoyment of leisure. Such a value 
considers only the egoistic happiness or enjoyment of the indi- 
vidual acquiring it; seeks truth for truth's sake; or stops at 
the mere sentimental or intellectual interest aroused. 

No one subject in the program of studies possesses notable 
educational value in all ten of the categories mentioned, or 
possesses the same degree of value in each of the several cate- 
gories to which it belongs. Neither should each of the ten 
categories be accorded equal importance in evaluating the 
significance and worth of a subject. Even a small degree of 
social value, for example, may possibly much more than coun- 
terbalance a high degree of conventional value. Nor is it 
possible to assign exact numerical grades of value to any sub- 
ject. With interest present (that is, aptitude and respon- 
siveness in the pupils) it is possible, as already acknowledged, 
that any subject may yield values of worthy kinds and 
amounts; with interest lacking, it is doubtful if any subject 
yields true values for youths destined to become free men 
and women. The one alleged value that is sometimes extolled 
as characterizing the doing of uninteresting school work is 
the acquirement of habits of performing disagreeable tasks 
in general. 

Granted that the fundamental element of character in any 
human being is sensitiveness to the demands of justice and 
duty and responsiveness to these calls, nevertheless, even here 
the end may not give sanction to the means employed to secure 
it. It is possible and altogether probable that these two ele- 
ments of character may in some cases be purchased too dearly, 
and that, in securing them, other important forces may be 
undeveloped; while per contra certain undesirable mental, 
emotional, and volitional traits may be produced. Individu- 
ality and personality are too precious human attributes to be 
jeopardized by employing processes that tend seriously to stul- 
tify. There is no great virtue in blind, unintelligible habit. 
An education that is liberal tends to arouse and inspire, not 
unduly to repress and inhibit. Moreover, success in life cannot 



84 



Indiana University 



be measured solely by objective appearances. There must be 
a fair balance between independent thinking and unquestioned 
acceptance of what others think. 

While, therefore, the evaluation of school work in accord- 
ance with the ten categories above mentioned cannot be accu- 
rately obtained nor mathematically stated, nevertheless it con- 
duces to clearness of thought and assists in formulating admin- 
istrative policies, if the various subdivisions of history (as at 
present commonly made in our typical high schools) be an- 
alyzed with reference to each group of educational values, and 
the results recorded in terms of "high," "moderate," and "low." 
The following chart suggests the plan : 



Subdivision 

of 

History 


1 
Auxiliary 


"3 

a 


Intellectual 


4 1 
Political 
nnd 
Civic 

Social 


6 
Ethical 


3 


a: 


8 
Aesthetic 


Conventional i 


10 
Cultural 


Ancient 




















Med. & Mod. 




















English 






















American 






















Economics 






















Civics 






















Industrial & 
Commercial 












1 





















The limits of the hour do not permit of such a detailed 
analysis of each subdivision of history here today. The scheme 
is presented merely to stimulate others (if they see fit) to 
make more careful studies of the particular problems when 
leisure permits. 

It is important, however, to inquire here. What is the spe- 
cific purpose of history work in our high schools today ? What 
are the positive aims which the various courses in history 
collectively seek to realize for our pupils? The answer, to 
my mind, is primarily this: namely, to help young people to 



History Teaching in High Schools 85 

understand the origin, development, present organization and 
significance of existing social (i.e., human) institutions, 
agencies, beliefs, prejudices, customs, and aspirations, to the 
end that they may better adjust themselves to these forms 
and conditions, and hence secure for themselves individually 
greater contentment and happiness and for the world at large 
continued progress and prosperity. The primary aim of his- 
torical study is therefore (stated concisely) to help bring 
about social adjustments. 

Undoubtedly this single aim could readily be resolved into 
a number of constituent aims, among which may be men- 
tioned: (a) taste for historical reading; (b) interest in gov- 
ernmental affairs; (c) patriotism; (d) good citizenship; 
(e) toleration for the beliefs, aspirations, and modes of expres- 
sion of others ; (/) sympathy for the distressed ; and (g) a 
background for interpreting social and personal actions. 
Without, therefore, seeking completeness in the analysis, let 
us attempt to evaluate the subject of history as a high school 
branch of study and then to deduce a few working adminis- 
trative principles. 

The values claimed for the courses in history in the high 
school include nearly all the values listed under the ten cate- 
gories mentioned, and in each category the estimate of worth 
is usually placed as "high," or at least as "moderate." Thus, 
history is said to possess large auxiliary value, various kinds 
of intellectual value; a very high degree of social, political, 
ethical, and religious value; superior worth as a means to 
aesthetic appreciation ; and notable importance in giving prac- 
tical, conventional, and cultural training. 

Considered with reference to auxiliary values, history is 
an important agent in unlocking the secrets of other depart- 
ments of knowledge; it gives an interpretative basis for the 
pursuit of all branches of study; and is intimately correlated 
with English literature, the fine arts, ancient and modern for- 
eign languages, and the sciences. For an adequate understand- 
ing of civil government and many current topics and events 
it is in the highest degree essential. 

The twentieth century is distinctively historical in its mode 
of thought. In every department of school work, therefore, 
an historical approach is made. Historical facts give the back- 
ground upon which to present in higher colors the special 
ma+«^rial of the particular course. No thoroly satisfactory 



86 Indiana University 

course in mathematics, for example, ignores entirely the his- 
tory of mathematics, and the history of mathematics is again 
inseparably connected with general history. Hence the auxil- 
iary value of history is high. 

On the directly practical or utilitarian side the customary 
courses in history, as usually organized and presented in the 
high school, have little value, except for pupils who are des- 
tined for careers as teachers of history, writers, newspaper 
reporters, public speakers, lawyers, jurists, and diplomats. 
Nevertheless, they yield a fund of knowledge that tends to 
give a clearer insight into many daily tasks, and, if presented 
with reference to specific occupations, possess no inconsider- 
able practical worth for all. The courses in industrial and 
commercial history in particular yield goodly amounts of such 
values. So also do courses in the history of agriculture, the 
history of art and music, and the history of other special inter- 
ests in so far as these courses are pursued by students quali- 
fied well to pursue them. 

As a means of intellectual training, history yields a peculiar 
kind of discipline, — a discipline in dealing with human affairs 
and institutions. It deals preeminently with sequences in hu- 
man affairs, and hence calls for the continued exercise of the 
powers of analysis respecting the causes and effects of feel- 
ings and motives of institutions and of conduct. It therefore 
trains the faculty of reasoning with reference to human 
affairs, and develops the tendency in pupils to follow the cur- 
rent of thought and action wherever it may lead. It likewise 
demands the employment of the powers of constructive imagi- 
nation, comparison, and discrimination. 

The student of history is forced to visualize past events, 
compare and contrast these with other events, deduce con- 
clusions respecting principles of procedure, and foreshadow 
possible and probable conditions respecting the future. It de- 
mands that the student shall put himself back into the past; 
collect facts and combine them into their essential and defi- 
nite relations ; give attention to similarities and differences in 
motives, agents, means, processes, events, places, dates, and 
results; form judgments respecting the probability of the fact 
alleged, the efficiency of the means employed to adjust means 
to ends, the righteousness of the act, and the motives and 
ideals that dominated it ; then, finally, deduce valid generaliza- 
tions from the facts presented. The study of history there- 



History Teaching in High Schools 87 

fore tends to produce the judicial mind, — the mind that im- 
partially considers all the significant facts relating to a prob- 
lem, scrutinizes them from various points of view, accords due 
validity to each group of elements, and forms its judgment in 
the light of the evidence. In short, since history deals with 
recurring problems in human life, the study of history devel- 
ops those intellectual powers which best serve the pupil in 
solving contemporary social problems. 

On the social, ethical, and political sides the values derivable 
from the study of history are incomparable in variety and 
strength. Accounts of the deeds of men and women who have 
struggled unselfishly and nobly have a charm for youth, fill 
it with aspirations to emulate the lives of those who have 
wrought benefits for their fellow-men, and inculcate faith and 
courage in striving to realize such aspirations. Again, history 
shows as no other subject of study does, that man is a gre- 
garious animal and cannot successfully and happily live alone ; 
it reveals the interdependence of men, and shows that while 
in union there is strength, in disunion there is weakness — 
possibly death. It extends the pupil's horizon, deepens his 
sympathies for his fellow-men, and tends to make him con- 
scious of his social inheritance, privileges, and responsibilities. 
Hence it should inspire loyalty to the state and its institu- 
tions, and devotion to civic and political duties. It trains the 
mdividual to form a better estimate of the motives and actions 
of his associates, enables him to foreshadow his own probable 
attitudes and conduct under given conditions, and teaches him 
to shape his course of procedure in such a manner as to avoid 
unnecessary friction and strife. Moreover, it tends to give a 
broad, tolerant view of national traits and character and to 
break down provincialism, to reveal the relations and inter- 
dependence of one community with another and one nation 
with another nation, and hence tends to make international 
intercourse simpler, easier, and more permanent. The study 
of history likewise adds in interpreting many allusions in cur- 
rent conversation and writings ; it makes the experiences of 
travel intelligible ; it creates an interest in the resources, tools, 
and processes of one's vocation, and fosters pride and content- 
ment with labor; and it explains racial, economic, religious, 
and social cleavages and prejudices and makes for a truer 
democracy of feeling and action. In short, the study of his- 
tory makes individuals sensible of their social and political 



88 Indiana University 

obligations, and qualified and willing to work in harmony with 
their fellow-men. 

Religiously, the study of history tends to give support to 
the faith that there is "a divinity that shapes our ends, rough 
hew them how we will." It reveals the fact that a ceaseless 
evolution is going on in the realm of intellectual and spiritual 
things as well as among material organisms, and that ideas 
alone are constant while forms and processes change. It 
teaches us, therefore, to see something of the intangible forces 
that override personal preferences and hinder the application 
of principles sincerely held. 

Aesthetically considered, history stirs to an appreciation of 
the beauties of men's handwork in sculpture, architecture, 
painting, musical and literary form, industry and commerce; 
it reveals the beauties of human genius in adapting institu- 
tions and governmental forms and processes to desired ends; 
and it tends to develop the habit of personal response to the 
demands of order, beauty, and proportion. 

As a subject valuable for the sake of pure culture, no 
branch of study takes higher rank than history. The student 
who has developed an interest in historical literature has in- 
exhaustible resources on which he may draw for employment 
during leisure hours and for personal gratification in study 
and research ; while he who has developed the art of writing 
historical accounts has a limitless field in which to work. 

In brief, history is, par excellence, one of the most broadly 
social subjects in the program of studies. It deals with human 
motives and affairs ; with human interests and conduct ; and 
it ennobles human character, thought, and intercourse. 

If the educational values of history are as varied in kind 
and as extensive in degree as the above paragraphs affirm, 
then assuredly none would deny that the subject deserves a 
place in the curriculum of every high school boy and girl. 
Unfortunately, however, as the secondary courses are organ- 
ized and arranged at present, it is very doubtful (even with 
superior teaching) whether fully satisfactory results are being 
secured, at least, for many types of mind and for youths look- 
ing forward to vocational occupations immediately on com- 
pleting the high school. Particularly unsatisfactory is the 
character of the work in history as it is found very commonly 
in our small high schools, situated in rural or quasi-rural com- 
munities. Indeed, the dulling effect of the history work here 



History Teaching in High Schools 89 

is not infrequently almost criminal in its influences. Pupils 
are brought into classes under false pretenses. They enter 
with high expectations of receiving stimulating information 
and help, and drop out all along the way disheartened, dis- 
couraged, dissatisfied. And what is the cause? It is that 
the courses have been arranged to fit a logical scheme of 
administration and not, strictly speaking, the psychological 
condition of pupils. It is that the work has been for too long 
a time and to too large a degree planned and imposed by men 
brilliant, it may be, as historical scholars but woefully ignor- 
ant so far as boy and girl nature is concerned ; knowing books 
intimately and thoroly, but knowing the practical life of the 
practical people of the practical twentieth century almost not 
at all; sensitive to the slightest misconception and misstate- 
ment of fact respecting the governmental and social ideals and 
practices of historical peoples, but unfamiliar and even indif- 
ferent to the similar interests that engage the common man 
and common woman in America today ; facile with expositions 
concerning the scientific principles that should guide in the 
gathering and recording of historical data, but contemptuous 
of history as an art ; extolling in exaggerated terms the virtue 
of knowing one's subject, but cynical, almost insulting, in his 
attitude toward a pedagogy of history. 

I repeat, therefore, that, to my mind, the work of history 
in our public high schools — particularly in the high schools 
in our smaller towns and for the youths of no great literary 
ability — has fallen upon hard lines primarily because the 
choice of material, the arrangement of material, the relative 
emphasis placed 07i the material have been determined largely 
by the college ideal and by men who have not had (and by 
their very education and experience cannot have) an adequate 
conception of the pedagogical, the social, and the practical 
problems involved in the teaching of history in our democratic 
schools of today. In the scholar's love of thoroness, com- 
pleteness, and mastery of a limited field of knowledge, his- 
torical details have been heaped upon details until the courses 
in the secondary schools have, in form at least, assumed the 
appearance of a university course. The typical college spe- 
cialist who writes history for secondary schools, and the typi- 
cal college specialist who instills into his students the ideal 
that to teach is but to secure the mastery of those details, is 
today the evil genius of the secondary school men. Not that 



90 Indiana University 

the special training of the university professor can be wholly 
disregarded, but that he shall add to his historical training a 
training in the theory and practice of teaching history in sec- 
ondary schools. Failing in this, the demand is insistent that 
he turn over the determination of secondary work to the sec- 
ondary school men themselves. 

Needless to say, in specific terms, I think, that I person- 
ally am very much dissatisfied with much of the work in his- 
tory in our secondary schools. It is altogether too abstract, 
remote, and pallid for our age and country. 

If the premise I advanced some time ago be accepted as 
valid, namely, that the fundamental purpose of historical 
study in our secondary schools is to help young people to un- 
derstand more clearly the origin, development, present organ- 
ization, and significance of existing social (i.e., human) insti- 
tutions, agencies, beliefs, prejudices, customs, and aspirations, 
then it needs must follow that a greater emphasis should be 
placed than heretofore on the study of the movements and 
conditions of the past which still are making their influences 
felt here in America today, and especially here in Indiana, and 
in the particular local community in Indiana in which the 
pupil is located. Moreover, I am in thoro accord with Dr. 
G. Stanley Hall's affirmation that the typical adolescent youth 
is so constituted physically, mentally, and temperamentally 
that it is unpedagogical, if not essentially immoral, for a 
teacher to seek to force him to master, during the secondary 
school period, the minute details of any subject or topic. What 
the pupil is really interested in and what he is really capable 
of doing and doing well is to pass somewhat rapidly over a 
wide range of topics, assimilating the grosser elements in each 
and leaving the refinements of detail to be sought out at a 
later time. Yocum has again expressed this thought clearly 
when he says: "A fallacious seeking after thoroness in the 
sense of exhaustive detail . . . has defeated its own pur- 
pose. . . . Even the crudest sort of pedagogical analysis 
reveals the utter weakness of a high school course that teaches 
. . . Greek and Roman history, or English and American 
history, in petty detail, in place of that general sequence of 
historical periods and epochs which assures the only unique 
contribution made by history to mental training." 

All this means that the high school courses in history (as 
in any other subject) should include a large variety of topics 



History Teaching in High Schools 91 

treated somewhat generally, i.e. not exhaustively, and should 
be vitally connected with the life interests of America today, 
and interpretable in the customary daily personal experiences 
of the pupils to whom the work is presented. Still further, 
inasmuch as it is a well known fact that a large percentage of 
our pupils in the public schools will not even complete the 
eighth grade, and that of those who enter the high school a 
large percentage will not complete the four years' work, it 
seems perfectly obvious that the courses in history both in 
the seventh and eighth grades and in the first and second 
year of the high school ought to be somewhat different either 
in content or emphasis or both from what is commonly found 
in these grades. 

This thought, then, raises the whole question of the actual 
organization of the courses in history in the school. Why are 
they organized as they are, and what objections can be raised 
against the order of their presentation? 

The serious teaching of history in elementary and sec- 
ondary schools is, speaking generally, a relatively recent inno- 
vation. Indeed, it was not until after the famous Report of 
the Committee of Ten, published in 1893, that any widespread 
consideration was given the subject either by public school 
men or by educational theorists. A superficial course in the 
history of the United States had found a place in the upper 
grades of the elementary schools as early as 1840, or before, 
but it consisted chiefly of military history and sketches of the 
presidential administrations. About the same period a dif- 
ferent course in ancient history was incorporated into the 
classical curriculum of some of the secondary schools. Occa- 
sionally, too, brief courses in general history and English his- 
tory were offered to the nonclassical student. Still later a 
so-called review course in American history appeared in the 
high school, and in time grew to be the advanced course (not 
review course) which we know today. 

With the gradual transformation of the public high school 
into a college preparatory school (an ideal that was not con- 
templated at its founding in 1821), with the prestige and 
dominance of the classical curriculum (course) within this 
school, with the formulation and passive acceptance of the 
absurd theory that whatever training constitutes the best 
preparation for college likewise constitutes the best prepara- 
tion for all other careers in life, and finally with the renewed 



92 Indiana University 

emphasis of the collegiate notion that general courses of any- 
kind are superficial and useless and that intensified courses 
are alone worth while, ancient history first crowded out gen- 
eral history from the various curricula, and then was ex- 
panded into two courses. 

So it has happened that our history courses in the schools 
have come to consist of a formal (largely memoriter) study 
of United States history (with a little consideration of gov- 
ernment) in the seventh and eighth grades, ancient history in 
the ninth grade, medieval and modern history in the tenth 
grade, English history (if four years' work are provided) in 
the eleventh grade, and United States history and civics in 
the twelfth grade. Furthermore, the work is precisely the 
same for all students who select it, or who are required to 
pursue it, and, more than that, is centered chiefly about gov- 
ernment, laws, constitutions, and rulers. 

If the test of values is : How has the work affected pupils 
outside of school, i.e., What do they read ? About what do they 
converse? What interest do they show toward good govern- 
ment? To what extent do they cooperate with others? — if 
this be the test of school values, then it is to be feared that 
for very large numbers of eighth grade graduates history 
study has yielded little return. If the same tests be applied 
to the high school, similar conclusions must of necessity be 
drawn. The fact is that ancient history in particular, and to 
a less degree also, medieval and modern history, as now taught, 
lack interest for many pupils and therefore arouse few re- 
sponses, and yield small value. 

True, it is often held that the story of Greece and the 
story of Rome, dealing as each does with a single nation and 
tracing its development from conditions that are relatively 
simple and concrete, constitute the most fitting approach to 
the more complex social studies of our own land and people. 
Experience, however, seems not to justify this belief, — cer- 
tainly not so far as the theory applies to all types of students. 
The events are so remote in time and place, the topics com- 
monly treated are so unlike the topics of current interest today, 
and the attention to details is so emphasized and yet so devi- 
talized, that ancient history for large numbers of students 
(tho certainly not all) is instead of being a joy and an inspira- 
tion, really a nightmare and a bore. 

And yet Greece and Rome have contributed altogether too 



History Teaching in High Schools 93 

many invaluable elements to civilization to be neglected en- 
tirely even by the individual whose systematic schooling can 
extend no further than high school graduation. But the essen- 
tial contributions of Greece and Rome do not consist primarily 
nor conspicuously in their wars, nor their lists of rulers, nor 
their court debaucheries, nor their domestic quarrels. These 
nations have left their impress on time because of the princi- 
ples which they originated, and the administrative policies 
which they inaugurated — principles and policies pertaining to 
democratic government, art, philosophy, religion, education, 
private property, and social relations in general. It is for 
these things that the modern world seeks to enter into the 
life of the past. Nor is it interested to any great degree in 
the events and facts of the ancients merely as events and 
facts, but cares decidedly more for the vivid picture of real 
conditions that prevailed, and the various movements — politi- 
cal, religious, educational, economic, and industrial — that were 
inaugurated and continued by them with a view to modifying 
these conditions. 

In like manner the course in medieval and modern history 
or in English history which devotes page upon page of the 
textbook and class recitation after class recitation to the con- 
sideration of chronological tables of rulers, tedious details of 
wars and battles, still more tedious details of governmental 
practices and struggles, court intrigues and debaucheries, and 
other topics of no vital interest to the pupils, — these courses 
are coming under the ban of educational disapproval. Such 
detailed, exhaustive, and abstract studies are appropriate and 
right for the adult who already has acquired a wealth of per- 
sonal experiences and who has a keen historical sense ; they 
are wholly inappropriate and wrong for the immature, inex- 
perienced youth who is seeking to find himself in the midst 
of contemporary social conditions and looks to the courses in 
history to assist him to do so. It is therefore pertinent and 
legitimate for parents to ask the school authorities what spe- 
cific returns their sons and daughters may be expected to 
receive from pursuing the courses in history that are now 
commonly offered in the high school, and not a few conscien- 
tious superintendents, principals, and teachers are consider- 
ably at a loss to know how to answer the query honestly. In 
consequence they not infrequently seek to cover their confu- 
sion by reference to some vague idea about culture, — an answer 



94 Indiana University 

that satisfies neither father, son, nor teacher. Culture is not 
a mere acquisition: it is a functioning of experience. Nor 
can it exist where interest is lacking. 

It is, therefore, clearly apparent that some form of reor- 
ganization of the work in history in the secondary schools is 
imperative. Moreover, it seems desirable that such reorgan- 
ization shall conform somewhat closely to the following ideals 
and principles, namely: 

(1) The choice of material to be taught in any given 
course shall be closely related to present-day interest and in- 
stitutions. 

(2) The psychological laws of procedure, i.e., from the 
particular to the general, the near to the more remote, and 
the concrete to the abstract, shall be observed. 

(3) Completeness in the sense of exhaustiveness of de- 
tails shall not be sought. 

(4) Each course that is offered shall constitute a unity 
and not depend on the completion of other courses in order 
to yield fair values. 

(5) The resources of the community, the previous his- 
torical training of the pupils in the high school, and the pur- 
poses which pupils have in attending school shall determine 
the number, order, and character of the history courses to be 
offered in any given system, 

(6) Specialized courses in history are desirable for pupils 
pursuing specialized curricula. 

Assuming that incidental instruction in historical topics 
has been given in the first six grades of school, and that such 
instruction has led out from the home, the school, and the 
community, the following outline of courses for the remain- 
ing six years of the school (from the seventh grade to the 
twelfth, inclusive) constitutes an ideal that seems feasible, 
practical, and wise. 

In grade seven an historical survey of the world, obtained 
chiefly thru the study of biographies, should be acquired. 
Such studies might well contain (among many others) the 
events centering about the following: Moses, Abraham, Solo- 
mon, Confucius, Rameses, Cyrus, Homer, Socrates, Alexander, 
Cleopatra, Christ, Caesar, Mohammed, Charlemagne, Alfred, 
William the Conqueror, Luther, Elizabeth, Gustavus Adolphus, 
Napoleon, Washington, Victoria, Gladstone, Bismark, Gari- 
baldi, Lincoln, Edison. While, of course, in conducting this 



History Teaching in High Schools 95 

work, some attempt should be made to develop a systematic 
approach to history, still the ideal here is to inspire a love 
for historical study, and hence vividness of impression should 
constitute the chief consideration. The biographical plan lends 
itself to treatment in accordance with the general sequence of 
time and place, and it is doubtful if more than such incidental 
attempt at chronological study is wise at this early stage of 
schooling. An inter-connected, unified world-picture can come, 
and come only, with more mature years and with a re-survey 
of world events, — not once, but many times. 

A course of the kind suggested ought to give a new stim- 
ulus to the work of the seventh grade, ought to be a means 
of retaining a larger percentage of the boys and girls in the 
school, and ought surely to yield a goodly number of the varied 
educational values to which reference has previously been 
made. 

The history work of the eighth grade should undoubtedly 
continue to be, as at present, an elementary course in United 
States history. This year is destined to be the last year of 
systematic schooling ever secured by large numbers of pupils. 
These persons will step out from under the directive care of 
teachers and straightway will take their places as juvenile 
citizens of the State and nation. This year for them, there- 
fore, will be the last year in which to have reimpressed upon 
them, thru the agency of the school, the ideals of the nation. 
State, and municipality. It will be the last opportunity they 
will have of gaining a systematic presentation of the govern- 
mental principles and institutions which American society 
holds so dear. For policies of state, therefore, if for no other 
reason, provision should be made at this time for the course 
in history mentioned. However, such a course should be radi- 
cally changed in character from the course that is at present 
commonly given in this grade. Many topics now listed in the 
year's work should be omitted altogether. Many are too 
trivial, as for example accounts of insignificant explorations 
and Indian massacres. On the other hand, many are too 
difficult, such as topics relating to the niceties of our diplo- 
matic relations, the establishment and conduct of national 
banks, and the conduct of our judicial system. But the most 
sweeping reform of all that is needed is the elimination of 
great masses of detailed facts pertaining to the truly worthy 
and legitimate topics that should be included in the course. 



96 Indiana University 

Such masses of unnecessary, indigestible, and uncorrelated 
details become merely a dead lift for the memory. Instead of 
really aiding in giving a true concept of the past, they tend to 
produce a blurred picture; instead of arousing and holding 
interest, they tend to check it. Facts, indeed, we must have 
and, oftentimes, detailed facts, for facts are the stuff out of 
which history is made, but trivial facts must not be permitted 
to usurp the places rightly accorded to salient facts. 

It seems very desirable that much of the work of the 
eighth grade (just as in the seventh grade) should center 
about biographical studies. For example, the biographies of 
Columbus, DeSoto, Cortez, Magellan, Drake, Marquette, Poca- 
hontas, Pontiac, and the long line of other notable men and 
women who have affected American history should constitute 
pivots about which to revolve significant related data. Be- 
sides biographies, much advantage will accrue from the use 
of topical studies dealing with the great connected movements 
and with the institutional development of our country. For 
illustration, themes such as : The Spaniards in America ; The 
Jesuits ; Religious Intolerance ; Witchcraft ; Territorial Growth 
of the Nation ; Slavery ; and scores of similar topics will enlist 
the active interest of many pupils in whom the formal, dis- 
sected, strictly chronological treatment will strike no thrill. 

Undoubtedly much of the work of this grade should consist 
of supplementary readings and oral individual reports, and cer- 
tainly vital correlations with geography should insistently be 
sought. 

In the later weeks of the course the work may well be 
made to focus in an elementary way upon local history and 
particularly upon the larger features of local government. It 
should, moreover, contain an elementary study of the larger 
divisions of vocations which must necessarily engage the at- 
tention of all men and women today, the general qualifications 
desirable for entering upon the various groups of vocation, the 
general training needed for success in them, and the rewards 
that are apt to accrue to the person entering upon the work. 
Indeed, the course in history in the eighth grade should be 
really an introductory course in social science and, while inci- 
dental attention to vocations and vocational guidance should 
doubtless be given thru all the earlier grades of the system, 
nevertheless here some definite, systematic effort should be 
made to put pupils in conscious touch with the problems of 



History Teaching in High Schools 97 

vocational careers and of the economic conditions into which 
they are about to enter. Surely no better approach to these 
all-important, questions can be made than thru the work in 
history. 

In the ninth grade, in place of the present course in ancient 
history, a course in the general history of Europe down to 
the middle of the eighteenth century would seemingly much 
better serve the ends sought. This course should then be 
supplemented in the tenth grade by a course in modern Euro- 
pean history (since 1750). The objections to the existing 
courses in these two years have already been stated. As now 
organized they are altogether too difficult and too detailed to 
stimulate and hold the abiding interest of any but the excep- 
tional pupils. The ages they depict seem so remote to the 
typical American boy and girl — especially the boy and girl 
whose earlier schooling has failed to give any clear conception 
of the measure and extent of time, — many of the topics treated 
seem so unrelated to the interests of today, and stress has so 
often been put upon facts and conditions that only an adult 
with the varied experience that comes with maturity could 
even fairly interpret and appreciate, that in not infrequent 
instances the pursuit of these courses has left really no ana- 
lyzable value for the student, but on the contrary has repelled 
him completely and caused him to loathe historical writings 
of all kinds. 

By organizing the history work of these two years into 
two more general courses than at present (as advocated above) 
the essential historical topics relating to English history can 
be incorporated and be appropriately fused with the conti- 
nental questions with which many of them, at least, are in- 
dissolubly linked. In this manner not only can the history 
of England be given the proper subordination which belongs 
to it in elementary treatment in the high school, but the time 
that is now so often devoted to a detailed course in the separate 
subject can be saved and utilized to what seems to be much 
greater advantage. 

Within the two courses as thus modified for the ninth and 
tenth grades the mode of treatment should follow, in general, 
the plan suggested elsewhere. That is, stress should be placed 
upon developing and impressing true, clearly defined, mental 
pictures of the real conditions under which society found itself, 
clearly comprehended conceptions of the fateful movements 



98 Indiana University 

which were undertaken to express their convictions and to 
realize their aspirations, and a fair appreciation and a well- 
formulated notion of the results from the undertakings, — re- 
sults so far as the lives, institutions, and beliefs of the par- 
ticular people themselves were concerned, and results likewise 
that have affected society subsequently. That is (to reiterate 
a much-employed thought again), facts and events, dates and 
locations, personages and titles, should be employed merely as 
the raw material out of which to build up a tightly woven, 
beautifully designed, permanently useful fabric of the past ex- 
periences of the race, and thereby permit the youth of today 
to stand on the shoulders of all previous generations! or, to 
change the figure of speech, to enable our youth of today to 
snatch the symbols from the past and to continue the relay 
race toward the ideals of progress. To do this, topics must 
be treated as entities, as unities, and must be developed from 
their genesis thru to their culmination. In other words, the 
controlling idea in history, as in science, is the idea of evolu- 
tion. The purpose is to show how man, thru a series of efforts, 
has raised himself successfully from one plane of civilization 
to another, and a higher plane. 

No doubt for the sake of aiding the secondary school pupil 
to knit the subdivisions of a course of this kind into a solidi- 
fied whole, some kind of outline, syllabus, or textbook is essen- 
tial. To grasp the events of history in this diversity and uni- 
versality is the accomplishment only of the ripe historical 
scholar. Adolescents in the high school cannot be expected to 
attain this perfection, nor satisfactorily to approximate it with 
suggestions and helps from others. Here, then, is presented 
the greatest opportunity for the teacher, — to correlate, ex- 
pound, illustrate, and apply, — and thru her analysis and sum- 
maries, her comparisons and generalizations, really to make 
past conditions appear before the pupils as a moving picture. 
General history of ancient, medieval, and modern Europe, or- 
ganized after this pattern and presented after this plan, will, 
it seems to the speaker, break down the criticisms which today 
are so frequently made by pupils respecting these courses and 
really yield the educational values they are designed to yield 
and are capable of yielding. 

In the eleventh grade it seems wise to introduce a relatively 
new phase of social science. During one semester a course in 
industrial and commercial history should be offered, — the 



History Teaching in High Schools 99 

work to correlate specifically to the industries of the particular 
place in which the subject is taught; for example, in mining 
sections to emphasize the history of mining; in agricultural 
sections, the history of agriculture and horticulture ; in manu- 
facturing sections, the history of manufactures. In like man- 
ner the commercial side should, so far as possible, take into 
consideration the commercial forms of peculiar interest to the 
local community. 

Supplementing the course in industrial and commercial 
history and yet organized so as to be independent of it, should 
be a course in elementary economics. Economic problems and 
economic discussions constitute so large an element in mod- 
ern life, that no young man or woman whose education em- 
braces that of a high school should be denied the opportunity 
of gaining some slight acquaintance with the principles, terms, 
theories, and processes that pertain to them. The ideal does 
not contemplate transplanting a university course into the 
junior year of the high school, but it does propose to give to 
the ninety percent of high school boys and girls who never 
will continue their schooling in a college a modicum of the ad- 
vantage which the ten percent of students who will ultimately 
enter college will possess. 

The two semestral courses thus advocated should yield dis- 
tinctively practical value. Moreover, there is no reason why 
they cannot be made to yield all other values which any course 
in history can yield. The decade is fast waning that holds 
that to be practical is to be uncultural. Culture and service- 
ability are but the two sides of the same shield. Whichever 
one sees will depend on his point of view, but both sides can 
be seen if effort be made to observe them. 

In the senior year a thoro, systematic course in American 
history and civics is probably firmly established in our poli- 
cies, — and justly so. In this course the work should center 
chiefly about constitutional and political topics, — the events 
and movements that have produced the democracy of today. 
It should be the culminating course in point of completeness 
and importance as well as in point of order of all the history 
work in the secondary school. It should gather up the threads 
of all previously considered efforts at self-government and 
bind them together into a cable that shall tie the present to 
the past and the past to the present in an indissoluble man- 
ner. 



100 Indiana University 

Whether the work in history and in civics should be pur- 
sued concurrently or whether the two phases should be taken 
up serially in separate sub-courses may be a matter of per- 
sonal preference and local convenience. Seemingly, however, 
greater advantage will be secured by following the latter pol- 
icy. To be sure, many topics relating to the conduct of national 
civil government can best be considered and comprehended if 
discussed at the time the historical conditions which gave rise 
to them are discussed. And they should be thus taken up. 
Nevertheless, a more systematic study of these national ques- 
tions in a course devoted entirely to government must tend to 
give greater mastery of the subject than can possibly be ac- 
quired in a course in which the existing forms and practices 
of government are given only incidental attention. 

On the other hand, it is exceedingly doubtful if it is really 
worth while to stress the study of the subdivisions of our na- 
tional government and the functions of each to the extent it 
has been our custom to do. Here again, as has already been 
pointed out in several instances, teachers have grossly erred 
in seeking after details. What profits it to the typical high 
school boy or girl if he or she is able to quote large portions 
of the Constitution of the United States, recites glibly the 
mode of electing Congressmen, and can name in order the par- 
ticular persons who for the time being constitute the Presi- 
dent's cabinet, if at the same time he is shamefully ignorant 
of the salient governmental forms and processes of his own 
State and community, is unfamiliar with the broader aspects 
of the civic problems that daily are affecting him, and is un- 
stimulated and hence untrained to assume the various civic 
responsibilities that devolve upon everyone as citizens, and 
devolve upon him in a peculiar manner because of the enhanced 
opportunities he has enjoyed? 

National politics must assuredly not be ignored entirely in 
a course in government, but State, county, township, municipal, 
village, and district governments touch the lives of our citizens 
one hundred times where the operations of the federal gov- 
ernment touch it once. It seems reasonable, therefore, to urge 
that State and local civics shall be given precedence and em- 
phasis in the instruction in government in our high schools. 
Such attention can best be provided in a course in civics that 
is separate and distinct from the courses in history but is 
built upon the history courses as a foundation. 



History Teaching in High Schools 101 

This, then, by way of summary, is the character and order 
of the various courses in social science which, to the speaker, 
seem best suited to the needs of the general student in the 
seventh and eighth grades and the high school, namely: 

Seventh Grade: Biographical World History. 

Eighth Grade: Elementary U. S. History, Local History, and Vo- 
cational Guidance. 

Ninth Grade: General History of Europe to 1750. 

Tenth Grade: General History of Europe since 1750. 

Eleventh Grade: Industrial and Commercial History (half 
course); Elementary Economics (half course). 

Twelfth Grade: United States History (half course) ; Civics (half 
course). 

In addition to these general courses designed chiefly for 
the general student, certain specialized courses in history may 
appropriately find places in the program of studies of some 
cities and towns. Among these courses may be mentioned the 
following : 

Ancient History, 

History of England, 

History of France, 

History of Germany, 

History of Music, 

History of Fine Arts and Architecture, 

History of Education, 

History of Particularized Vocations. 

Which of the above special courses should be given in any 
particular school system (if any should be given at all) is for 
the school authorities conversant with local needs to deter- 
mine. Probably, for few, will it be feasible or desirable to 
include any of them. 

In conclusion, therefore, permit me to affirm that dog- 
matism has been farthest from my intent in what I have here 
presented. Undoubtedly there are those present who will 
object seriously to the claims I have made respecting the values 
of history, and particularly will they object to the schematic 
arrangement and content of the courses I have advocated. I 
have no quarrel with any such honest opponents. One of the 
important lessons to be learned from the study of history is 
that of tolerance, — a respect for the opinions and experiences 
of others. I trust that I have to a fair degree learned that 
lesson. Certainly few are entirely satisfied with the content, 
organization, and arrangement of the courses in history as 
we find them today in our high schools. I have endeavored to 



102 Indiana University 

give you in brief the principles and plans which to me indi- 
cate the general character of the reforms that are needed in 
respect to them. The four especially desirable changes which I 
wish particularly to reiterate are: 

(1) Taking ancient history as such out of the ninth grade 
and transferring it (if given at all) to the twelfth grade and 
making it elective. 

(2) Merging English history with the courses in general 
European history on one side and with the course in American 
history on the other, and thus gaining an additional year's 
time to which may be allotted half courses in industrial and 
commercial history and elementary economics. 

(3) The elimination of needless details in the presentation 
of the work in all the courses, making the history work in the 
secondary schools really secondary school history and not uni- 
versity studies. 

(4) Vitalizing all history work by relating it intimately 
to the lives and experiences of the boys and girls who are 
pursuing it, and to the current practices of society of today. 

May I bring this address to a close, therefore, by quoting 
a few words from the introductory paragraphs of the New 
York syllabus in history for high schools ? The thought there 
expressed accords thoroly with mine and may give support to 
the message that I have sought to bring to you. The syllabus 
reads in part as follows: 

"The value of history to a student of high school age lies 
in the fact that it enables him to understand the world in 
which he is living, and develops in him a certain power to cope 
with present-day problems by virtue of the widened experi- 
ence which history gives. In teaching the subject, therefore, 
the teacher should not lose sight of this aim, otherwise the 
study is likely to degenerate into the mere accumulation of 
facts of no relative importance to the students. A genetic 
treatment of history being desirable, whatever method may 
be employed, the unity of the human race should be kept in 
view. The acquisition of facts is mainly a memory exercise. 
The real value of history lies in the appreciation it gives of 
mankind as a whole and of the advance of civilization. All 
teaching should enable the student to draw conclusions from 
facts, considering such facts as means and not as ends. The 
study of natural conditions of religion, art, government, indus- 
trial, commercial, and social relations should be emphasized, 



History Teaching in High Schools 103 

'because it furnishes the key to the history and dealing of a 
people'." 

STANDARDS FOR JUDGING INSTRUCTION IN HISTORY 

By Oscar H. Williams, 

Assistant Professor of Education, Indiana University. 

"The efficiency of any profession depends in large measure 
upon the degree to which it becomes scientific. The profession 
of teaching will improve (1) as its members direct their daily 
work by the scientific spirit and methods, that is, by honest, 
open-minded consideration of facts, by freedom from super- 
stitions, fancies, or unverified guesses, and (2) in proportion 
as the leaders in education direct their choices of methods by 
the results of scientific investigation rather than by general 
opinion." 

Thus writes Thorndike in a memorable chapter on the "Sci- 
entific Study of Teaching."^ Two elements in the situation 
have hitherto precluded the scientific study of history teach- 
ing. First, both historian and history teacher have been un- 
duly absorbed in the fact or content side of history work. 
With both, the chief concern has been an extension or accumu- 
lation of historical information, an elucidation of fact and 
theory of historical movement. The consideration of effective 
presentation of history in schools has at best received only 
formal or perfunctory attention from all concerned. The study 
of history teaching in the scientific spirit, that is, by experi- 
mentation and accurate analysis and testing of results, has 
scarcely been attempted by students either of history or of 
education. Secondly, the historian and history teacher have 
directed speculative thought and practical demonstration to 
the scientific method as applied to the historical narrative, 
but have ignored the scientific method as applied to historical 
instruction. Scholars such as Bernheim, Langlois and Seigno- 
bos, Vincent, Fling, and many others have elaborated, illus- 
trated, and applied the principles of historical science. No 
such writers have attempted to formulate in a scientific way 
the principles of historical teaching. 

It is far from the purpose of the present writer to disparage 
the importance to the teacher of history of either full and 



' The Principles of Teaching, by E. L. Thorndike, ch. xvi. 



104 Indiana University 

accurate knowledge of history, or of an understanding of 
the process by which the fund of knowledge has been accumu- 
lated; knowledge of history and understanding of historical 
method are both fundamental in effective teaching of the sub- 
ject. We may go further and say that progress in the scien- 
tific study of history teaching will be conditioned both by full 
and definite knowledge of history and an adequate compre- 
hension of the principles of historical method. To quote Pro- 
fessor Fling in this connection, "To teach history successfully 
one must know how to study history scientifically."^ 

But scientific method applied to historical writing and sci- 
entific method applied to historical instruction are widely dif- 
ferent matters. The teacher of history who wishes to rise to 
the higher planes of efficiency needs not only to understand 
what the difference is but also to have a practical working 
experience in both processes. The former of these applica- 
tions of scientific method to history has received marked 
attention from students and writers and has even been incor- 
porated into college courses for the training of secondary 
teachers. Its claims and values have been presented in an 
able manner in the first paper this morning. But the latter 
use of scientific method in history has hardly claimed the 
serious attention of teachers themselves. Strangely enough, 
even courses for training history teachers scarcely recognize 
its transcendent importance. Yet the marked advance in re- 
cent years of the scientific study of education, particularly in 
the accurate analysis and measurement of the results of teach- 
ing, renders imperative upon history teachers careful study of 
the methods and results of their branch of the teaching craft. 

The first step in the scientific analysis of teaching is the 
fixing of standards. One must first determine what are the 
desired results of his work before he can go far in testing or 
measuring these results. Clearly we must agree as to the 
results we wish to attain in history teaching before we can 
approximate a means of testing or a scale for measuring the 
results. This applies equally to the selection of subject ma- 
terial, and its organization and logical arrangement in a course 
of study, as to the methods of adapting the materials to the 
interests and capacities of children. 



Outline of Historical Method, by F. M. Fling, p. 15. 



History Teaching in High Schools 105 

A clear exposition of the nature and scientific method of 
history has been given here this morning. Desirable stand- 
ards for determining emphasis and measuring the worth of 
courses in history and civics have been set out in the subse- 
quent papers. It remains to formulate standards for testing 
the quality of instruction in history. 

In a recent book, Professor F. A. McMurry has indicated 
certain standards for judging instruction in the elementary 
schools.^ These standards he discovers from a consideration 
of the purposes of teaching. The immediate purpose of teach- 
ing, he thinks, is to impart knowledge and power and form the 
habits that determine a well-ordered life. "That is," he says, 
"we must look directly to the life about us to find what sub- 
ject-matter the school should offer, and how this should be 
treated." The course of study will be good to the degree in 
which it contains problems that are socially vital and yet 
within the comprehension and appreciation of pupils ; and the 
method of presenting the course will be good in proportion as 
it exemplifies the methods of solving problems found most 
effective by the world's most intelligent workers. 

From a possible list of elements in daily living that are 
socially important, the author selects four which are univer- 
sally desirable. These are (1) motive on the part of pupils, 
(2) consideration of values by pupils, (3) attention to organ- 
ization by pupils, and (4) initiative on the part of pupils. 
These four factors in everyday life, because of their univer- 
sality, "are particularly worthy as aims of instruction." They 
may be accepted as standards for judging the quality of in- 
struction. That teaching is good, in the opinion of the author, 
which makes provision for these essential elements in daily 
living. 

It would not perhaps be either difficult or highly instruc- 
tive to show that these standards may be applied to history 
instruction in secondary schools. Doubtless, in the high school, 
as in elementary schools, some attention should be devoted to 
motivation in history work. Children and youth may profit- 
ably be encouraged to set up immediate and ultimate purposes 
in their daily study and reading of history. Added zest and 
interest in the subject may be aroused, for example, if the 

^Elementary School Standards (School Efficiency Series), by F. A. 
McMurry, pp. 3, 4, ch. ii. 



106 Indiana University 

suggestion is offered to a class in American history that it 
look into the part played by its own families in westward mi- 
gration, or investigate the history of its respective churches 
of the locality, or discover the historic reasons for the pre- 
vailing division of opinion as to the desirability of extending 
Federal as against State authority. In each case, it is ob- 
served, the point for investigation serves to illustrate the 
general topic, and at the same time connects itself with some 
immediate interest relating to the lives of the children. A 
general purpose might be proposed, viz., to discover how many 
of the wars of a period might, in the opinion of the class, have 
been averted by arbitration, thus illustrating the efficacy or 
inefficacy of this mode of settling international difficulties. 

No doubt some thought should be given to the training of 
boys and girls in estimating relative values in history work. 
Occasion for the exercise of the power of appraisal of values 
arises in almost every lesson; for example, in judging the 
relative importance of names, of dates, and of leaders. Some 
dates are to be learned and remembered for all time ; others 
only for the lesson. Pupils should evaluate and pass judg- 
ment in the matter for themselves. Likewise, they should 
acquire the habit of judging relative values in analyzing the 
causes or forces in a movement, the terms of a treaty, or the 
policies of a party. 

In history teaching in high schools, as in elementary 
schools, there are both necessity and occasion for organization 
of ideas by the pupils. In no subject are individual facts 
more overwhelming in number and variety. The only hope 
of the student and teacher is the careful grouping and syste- 
matizing of facts, — "tying them into bundles" — and this gives 
the needed training in organization. Logical and constructive 
outlining, arranging matter for a class report, marshaling evi- 
dence in support of a thesis, constitute training of the highest 
value. 

Again, in history work, numerous occasions arise for fos- 
tering initiative on the part of pupils. They may be encour- 
aged to express independent judgments, offer original points 
of view, and indicate their individual preference of leaders 
and personalities. They may and should place their own esti- 
mates upon the importance of historic movements. They may 
be directed and stimulated to do certain forms of constructive 
work in which individual initiative has full play. Of such 



History Teaching in High Schools 107 

work, mention may be made of those exercises in which the 
pupil's knowledge is applied in concrete forms, e.g., the writing 
of historical letters, keeping historical diaries, composing his- 
torical dramas, and planning pageants, holding conventions 
and making treaties, impersonating historical characters, and 
participating in informal discussions, debates, and orations. 

Thus we may, I believe, accept the general teaching stand- 
ards as having application to history instruction. The point 
may well be raised that these standards for judging instruc- 
tion have particular reference to the work of the elementary 
schools. They apply, moreover, equally with history to most 
or all other school subjects. The problem still remains to 
show the distinctive values claimed for history instruction 
in high schools, and to indicate acceptable standards for test- 
ing the quality of such instruction. 

What are the desirable purposes of history teaching in 
high schools? What definite and distinctive types of mental 
training and habit formation does it afford? In answering 
this question, we need to take into account both the nature of 
history and the character of the social order in which the 
pupils are to live. For there is quite common agreement 
among those who have thought upon the matter that it is 
the unique task of history and its kindred subjects to train 
boys and girls for socially efficient living. 

If we consider, then, the scientific nature and method of 
history, its theme of social evolution, and view also the com- 
plex and changing social order, with its ever-recurring prob- 
lems of social adjustment, we may discover four kinds of 
worthy aims which may be claimed for history teaching in 
high schools. These are (1) concrete and objective thinking, 
(2) application of historic truth to social situations, (3) analy- 
sis and interpretation of historical phenomena, and (4) use of 
the historical judgment. These purposes may be accepted as 
desirable standards for judging the quality of the teaching 
of history in the secondary school. That is to say, the history 
instruction which makes careful provision for these important 
objects may be rated as good in quality, and that which neg- 
lects any or all should be set down as poor teaching. 

Let us first consider the standard of concrete and objective 
teaching of history. 



108 Indiana University 

In a recent essay,* President Eliot has pointed out in a 
convincing way the value of the concrete and practical in mod- 
ern education. He raises the question why the inductive 
philosophy has proved '*to have such a transforming power on 
the habits, manners, customs, government, religion, and whole 
life of any people that accepts it and puts it into practice." 
He then answers the question in substance as follows: The 
inductive method proceeds from the observation of the con- 
crete and practical; it seeks the fact, it thinks little of the 
abstract or speculative ; it does not rely on any kind of reve- 
lation. It studies the fact, the concrete object. It goes for 
the truth, the facts. Having observed the facts, it compares 
fact with fact, and fact group with fact group ; and from the 
comparison it draws limited inference. Finally, it makes a 
careful record of all the observations, groupings, and infer- 
ences. Out of that inductive process have come, we may say 
without exaggeration, all the new ways of doing things, all 
modern industries, all the new freedoms, collective potencies, 
and social equalizations. 

We have here suggested the supreme importance of in- 
ductive thinking in the teaching process. Not that any sub- 
ject may be taught exclusively, or even chiefly, by the in- 
ductive method. History, more than all other subjects in the 
school curriculum, deals with generalized data. Investigation 
shows that almost every assertion of the historical writer, 
whether of textbook, monograph, or monumental work, is a 
more or less generalized formula. Nearly every thought or 
statement of the teacher or student in interpreting the gen- 
eralized formula will be itself that of a general or concept 
truth. What, then, is the function of the particular and con- 
crete in history teaching? Simply this: Every generalized 
formula or concept statement must be made intelligible to the 
immature mind of the child by means of appropriate detail. 
Facts, figures, illustrations, concrete instances, suggestive ex- 
amples, should illuminate and render full of significance the 
general forms of statement in which the historical narrative 
of necessity abounds. 

Our first standard, then, is that of concreteness. By this 
token that teaching of history is sound and good which pro- 



* The Tendency to the Concrete and Practical in Modern Education, 
by C. W. Eliot, pp. 7, 8. 



History Teaching in High Schools 109 

vides for illustrative detail at every stage. This is something 
more than manipulation of material, and involves the cultiva- 
tion of the habit on the part of pupils of thinking inductively, 
of passing from the particular to the general and from the 
general back to the particular. More valuable training for 
the duties of civic and social life cannot be conceived. 

How is the teacher of history to use concrete illustration 
with potent effect? A few pointed instances may make the 
matter clear. Take the case of the indentured servant. What 
explanation of his social status both at home and in the colo- 
nies could surpass for clearness this sentence from the diary 
of a high grade redemptioner, dated January 26, 1774 ? "This 
day I, being reduced to the last shilling I had, was obliged to 
go to Virginia for four years as schoolmaster for Bedd, Board, 
and Washing, and five pounds during the whole time." The 
spirit and method of the owner of a fugitive slave is told with 
reality in the following notice taken from the Carolina Centinel 
(Newbern, N. C.) for August 18, 1818: "ONE HUNDRED 
DOLLARS REWARD. The subscriber, having legally out- 
lawed his man Harry, offers the above reward for his head, or 
the same if delivered alive to me. Harry is a stout, well-made 
fellow, about five feet six inches high, small eyes, and an im- 
pudent look; he took with him when he absconded two coats, 
one grey and the other blue, and a homespun suit of winter 
clothes, together with some articles of clothing not recollected. 
The above-mentioned negro is legally outlawed. Fair-field, 
near Washington, N. C. John Y. Bonner." Again, take 
the case of the early dependence of the South upon the 
farmers of the Northwest for many of its food supplies. 
James and Sanford state the matter thus'*: "The South was 
dependent upon the Northwest for large amounts of its food 
supplies." The following clipping from a Natchez (La.) news- 
paper dated October, 1826, supplies the needed detail: "Apples 
and Irish potatoes are good things. We have had good things 
in Natchez for the last week. Codfish and potatoes, with 
drawn potatoes and eggs ; and apples raw, and apple-dumplings, 
and apple-pies, and baked apples; and roast potatoes, and po- 
tatoes boiled, and hash with potatoes in it, — besides fresh flour, 
and sundry other articles, — for which we are annually indebted 
to the father of waters (the Mississippi) and one of his older 

■^ Page 342. 



110 Indiana University 

boys (the Ohio River) ; all these things have presented them- 
selves to our delighted palates within the last few days." 

The pages of standard historians, of official reports, of 
newspapers, of diaries, letters, and journals abound in such 
concrete and highly illustrative material. All that is needed 
is that the enthusiastic teacher take the trouble to find it out. 

Keatinge has an illuminating chapter on concrete illustra- 
tion in history teaching.^ "The pupil must reason about mat- 
ters which are concrete to him in every sense of the word," 
he says. Then he proceeds to give a case in point. A textbook 
formula runs, "The Statute of Mortmain checked the giving 
of lands to corporations which were unable to perform feudal 
service." How may this rather bald statement be made intel- 
ligible to boys and girls? "To introduce the personal element 
a little fiction is useful," Keatinge goes on interestingly. "We 
introduce two barons, each living on his own estate. Let them 
be called baron A and baron B. Let the estates be drawn 
upon the blackboard, and let each baron be domiciled in his 
own stronghold. 

"On what tenure did they hold their estates ? What duties 
or payments to the overlord did the feudal system bring 
with it? 

"We revise some of the feudal incidents that suit our pur- 
pose: (1) wardship; (2) fine on the marriage of heiresses; 
(3) intestacy ; (4) escheat for treason ; and make it clear that 
it was from these and similar sources that the king's purse 
was filled, and that in this respect some barons must have 
been worth more to him than to others. 

"We must now proceed to give a description of our two 
friends. 

"Baron A is some thirty years old ; he married young, and 
his two sons are of age ; his two daughters have been married 
for some years ; he is business-like, and has made all arrange- 
ments for the disposition of his property ; he is extremely loyal. 
What are the king's chances of getting from this baron any 
of the fines mentioned above? Extremely small. 

"Now consider baron B : he is forty-eight years old, a con- 
siderable age for this period, and is in poor health; he mar- 
ried late, and his eldest son is only fifteen years of age and 
of feeble constitution; he is unbusinesslike, and has probably 



' Studies in the Teaching of History, by M. W. Keatinge, ch. vi. 



History Teaching in High Schools 111 

not made the necessary legal arrangements about his property ; 
he has three unmarried daughters who may become heiresses ; 
he is suspected of treasonable designs. 

"What are the king's chances of getting fines from him? 
Very considerable. Such a baron must have been a godsend 
to an extravagant monarch. Which of these barons is of 
greater value to his lord in this respect? Obviously baron B. 

"Baron B, as narrated, is in poor health. He was always of 
a religious disposition, and as he grows feebler he sees a good 
deal of the neighboring abbot. Finally, regardless of the inter- 
est of his children, he makes over the whole of his property 
to the monastery on his estate. What will the king get from 
the monastery on the counts mentioned above ? Nothing what- 
ever. It must be made clear to the class that there will be 
no orphan sons, no heiresses, no intestacy, for a corporation 
cannot die ; no escheat for treason, for monks do not rebel. 

"If, then, many barons imitate B, what is the result to 
the king? Poverty; no pocket-money. How can he prevent 
this? Evidently by forbidding the alienation of land to cor- 
porations of this kind. 

"The statement of the Statute of Mortmain can now fol- 
low. Its abstract nature has vanished." 

The illustration suggests another resource of the teacher 
in concrete demonstration. This is the use of objective meth- 
ods for massing detail. The employment of blackboard, of 
diagram, picture, map, model, relic, what not, belongs to the 
category of inductive teaching. 

A second aim of historical instruction having social signifi- 
cance and value is the utilization of historical knowledge, or 
its application to social situations. A crying need in everyday 
life is the ability to utilize in practical situations what one has 
learned in the school. A distressing weakness in modern 
school practice is the lack of opportunity to use what one has 
learned. Children are worked overtime in accumulating infor- 
mation which there is little or no chance to apply. In history 
this fault of teaching is greatly accentuated. Exercises for 
putting to the test one's knowledge of history seem scant 
enough. In arithmetic or algebra, the mastery of the process 
is accompanied by countless examples or practical exercises for 
testing out the thoroness of knowledge. So in language study, 
in manual work, in grammar, composition, the natural sciences. 
Only in history do we have an endless learning of new matter 



112 Indiana University 

with rarely an occasion to use or apply what has been learned. 

Yet if one looks carefully into the matter a surprisingly 
large number of ways of applying historical knowledge offer 
themselves. Countless instances of similarity between condi- 
tions in past ages and those of modem times are easily dis- 
coverable. Herein is available one great resource of the his- 
tory teacher in training pupils to make application of historical 
truth. Analogous conditions may be discovered, comparisons 
established, and differences noted. A few illustrations may 
help us here. When in 264 B.C. the Roman Republic, at the 
opening of the first Punic War, sent its legions into Sicily 
and embarked upon a career of external expansion, a situation 
arose, strikingly similar to that which faced the American 
Republic, when in 1898 its victorious fleet seized the Philip- 
pine Islands. Much was made by anti-imperialists of the 
similarity at the time. The high school student of Roman his- 
tory should see the similarity of conditions and point out the 
elements of difference. In this fashion, the pupils make vital 
and effective use of their knowledge of affairs in the Roman 
Republic in the third century B.C. Again, the social and eco- 
nomic crisis in Italy in 133 B.C. was not unlike that in this 
country in 1912. Once more, the Roman system of land admin- 
istration — its title in the state, its scheme of survey, its distri- 
bution to the settler — closely resembles that introduced into 
the new American Republic shortly after independence was 
established. 

In American history and civics, applications of historical 
knowledge may often be made to State and local conditions. 
Reference has already been made to westward migration be- 
tween 1815 and 1840. Understanding of the general move- 
ment may be tested by applying it to the settlement of the 
State of Indiana. On the background of the larger movement, 
the pupils may see how the current poured into the State 
during these years, first from the upland regions of the South, 
then near the end of the period from the middle and eastern 
sections of the country. All the elements are here, the induce- 
ments to settlers, the modes of acquiring land, of laying out 
towns in the wilderness, of opening roads and other means of 
communication. One may even narrow the study to the local- 
ity, for scarcely a community was not affected in some degree 
by this movement. In similar fashion, the study of the larger 
aspects in the nation of any of the following questions may 



History Teaching in High Schools 113 

be applied to the State: State aid of turnpikes, canals, and 
railroads ; State banks and banking ; slavery extension ; demand 
for cheap money; growth of cities and decay of rural life; 
and so on. 

Another type of application of historical knowledge is that 
made to historical situations, real or imagined. Let us select 
a few examples of application to imaginary situations. A 
useful exercise is the writing of letters and diaries or jour- 
nals. A few days ago the writer asked a senior class in high 
school to use what they had talked over about the transform- 
ing results upon the nation of the "Second War of Indepen- 
dence," by writing one of the following exercises under date 
of February 1, 1815: a letter from Henry Clay, a page from 
the diary of John Quincy Adams, a supposed speech of Cal- 
houn in the House, or an editorial for Niles' Weekhj Register. 
The value of the exercise may be judged from the following 
samples : 

A NEW AMERICA 

(An imaginary review [editorial] from Niles' Register under date of 
February 1, 1815.) 

The direct effects of the late war, viewed economically, politically, 
and socially, are of such nature as will be the foundation of a wonderful 
era of prosperity in this country. 

Although it seems but a short time since the commissioners of both 
nations met at Ghent for purposes of peace, the majority of Americans, 
since that memorable day of December 24, 1814, when the treaty was 
signed, have had a strong feeling of national consciousness, and have 
seen with a clear vision that the nation has a future such as no Euro- 
pean power can disturb. 

England's refusal to stop seizing our sailors on board American ves- 
sels and forcing them into her service paved the way for a war, that 
war in which this country in the end convinced Great Britain that our 
rights must be respected the same as any other nation's rights. 

Our military operations, although far from successful on land, have 
shown foreign nations that any attempt to establish themselves on the 
territory of the United States is likely to meet with effective resistance. 

It is true that the war has been a costly one for us. It has cost us 
thirty thousand lives and a hundred million dollars, but with the strength 
and confidence of a new government at our command, and under the 
unfaltering patriotism of American citizens, we have made the way 
clear for successful commercial and industrial enterprises. 

We have entered into terms of peace with England. May these terms 
never again be broken, and may the "Era of Prosperity and Good Feel- 
ing" continue unto future generations. 



114 Indiana University 

a page from the diai^y of john quincy adams 

(February 1, 1815.) 
There are three things which stand uppermost in my mind that have 
been accomplished in regard to foreign affairs since the treaty of 1783. 
These things are: (1) the purchase of Louisiana, (2) the interposition 
of the Czar in behalf of our commerce in 1809, and (3) the treaty with 
Great Britain which was consummated at Ghent about a month ago. 
Though doubtless many of my countrymen will be disappointed in its 
provisions, yet I believe this is one of the greatest treaties this country 
may ever hope to contract. It severs, I firmly believe, all our bonds of 
custom with England. The treaty of 1783 did not entirely cancel our 
most intimate relations with the mother country. We yet were depend- 
ent upon her, politically, commercially, industrially; we were proud of 
our lineage in her. England, I believe, has never lost her ambition to 
control us in our commercial and industrial life. She has regarded us 
only as a dependent, — never as a world power. Constant violation of 
our rights on her part has shown us that. This semi-independence would 
seriously retard American progress in time. This war is but a comple- 
tion of the Revolution. And it is God we must thank for its fortunate 
outcome, for I fear America should not have fared so well had not her 
opponent's forces been divided. I anticipate this second independence — 
this real independence — will open a vast field for expansion in many 
lines in America. 

The above lines were penned by a high school girl. Whether 
she has correctly interpreted the spirit of the classic diarist 
of the second era of American independence, I leave to my 
hearers to judge. Let us turn to a letter written by a boy 
in the same class. 

A LETTER FROM HENRY CLAY TO JOHN C. CALHOUN 

Ghent, The Netherlands, February 1, 1815. 
John C. Calhoun, M.C., 

Washington, D. C, U. S. A. 

Dear Sir : By the time this epistle reaches you the treaty, which our 
commission, after much delay, succeeded in wresting from the British 
commissioners, will perhaps have been ratified or rejected by the Senate. 
I trust the former will be the case. 

Although the treaty does not provide for the abolition of those out- 
rages by which we were driven to war, yet the respect for our nation, 
which the memory of our victorious commands will enhance, will doubt- 
less prevent their repetition. The Orders in Council have been repealed 
and I am confident that with Napoleon's downfall, which must come 
shortly, interference with our trade and impressment of our seamen will 
cease. 

As desirable as was war and honor three years ago, much more to 
be desired today is peace, if it can be obtained without dishonor. Recent 
reports from the various States, telling of the distress due to our 



History Teaching in High Schools 115 

blockaded ports and interrupted commerce, have so alarmed the com- 
mission that even I, whom Randolph called a "war hawk," am willing 
to accept a treaty which guarantees peace alone. I sincerely hope that 
you have not or will not use your influence to defeat its ratification or 
to embarrass its drafters. 

Mr. Adams has returned to Russia to resume his post. The remainder 
of the commission, Messrs. Bayard, Gallatin, Russell, and myself, are 
awaiting word of the Senate's action before returning home. 

Your fellow-countryman, 

H. Clay. 

So much for applications of history in imaginary situa- 
tions. Applications to real historical conditions may be made 
by means of the written thesis. A fairly definite and not too 
difficult or complex problem is stated. The student sets to 
work in a spirit of inquiry. If in an advanced class, he should 
find most of his materials, place an estimate upon their value, 
and arrange the facts in logical sequence in support of his 
thesis. Questions such as the following are appropriate: 
Were William of Normandy's claims to the throne of England 
valid? Was the Norman Conquest a good thing or a bad 
thing for England ? Had Frederick I or the Italian communes 
the better right in their struggle ? What connection was there 
between the rise of universities and the spread of heresy in 
the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries? Was Cromwell an 
ambitious usurper or a sincere patriot? Was Jackson justified 
in his distrust of the Bank ? Such questions require the mar- 
shaling of evidence, the balancing of opinion, and a final deci- 
sion. In all these processes there is both opportunity and 
necessity of putting to the test the knowledge gained in daily 
class work. 

Still another mode of applying what one has learned in 
history is the use of debate or discussion. Both should be em- 
ployed in history, however, with some care and discrimination, 
for not all historical questions are debatable. Questions which 
the race has settled for all time should not be introduced in 
debate. Such are the rightfulness of slavery, the inequality 
of women, the efficacy of religious persecution. Questions 
which the nation has permanently decided, or which are no 
longer pertinent, may not be profitably discussed. Such, for ex- 
ample, are the right of nullification or of secession, the right 
of territorial acquisition, the right to build railroads and canals 
at Federal expense. But aside from these limitations on his- 



116 Indiana University 

torical debate, there still remains a host of living issues, of con- 
troversial matters, which are legitimate material for debate or 
discussion. The relative validity of claims by pope and coun- 
cil, the merits in the contest between Philip IV and Boniface, 
the justification of the colonial revolt from England, the jus- 
tice of the Mexican War, the desirability of maintaining the 
Monroe Doctrine, are a few of the many such questions for 
discussion or debate. This form of application is of special 
usefulness in civics or economics. 

Yet another way of applying historical truth is found in 
the study of current history. The survival in our day of his- 
torical issues, institutions, and movements are surprisingly 
numerous. The perennial Monroe Doctrine finds new applica- 
tion and interpretation in almost every international compli- 
cation relating to the Americas. The question of papal author- 
ity in Catholic countries is by no means dead. Disputes grow- 
ing out of the union of church and state crop out in many 
civilized countries at the present day. Clashes of colonial 
rivalry, of commercial interests, of race antagonisms, have 
come down to us from the days of Rome and Carthage. In 
the study of history in the making, we have excellent means 
of applying what has been learned in history classes, and at 
the same time of illuminating the understanding of contem- 
porary life thru history. 

Our second important criterion for judging historical in- 
struction is, then, the utilization of historical knowledge. By 
this token, the history instruction which makes provision for 
some daily application of what has happened is sound and 
good. On the other hand, the teaching which is concerned 
solely with acquisition of knowledge is by the same token weak 
and poor. 

A third element in historical teaching is interpretative 
power. One of the chief aims in teaching history is training 
in the analysis of social phenomena. This is sometimes called 
"historical thinking." What is involved in historical thinking? 
The habit or power of thinking of social phenomena dynami- 
cally, i.e. as evolving from early and simple stages to more 
complex ; of viewing them in historical perspective, that is, in 
their real relation to the times in which they fall or to the 
historical movement to which they belong ; of analyzing social 
situations into their simpler elements, revealing their causal 
forces and resulting influences. 



History Teaching in High Schools 117 

The importance of such training for daily living needs no 
demonstration. The simple duties of everyday life, the ele- 
mentary activities of citizenship, require accurate perception 
of causal forces in human relationships, some sense of his- 
torical perspective, and some knowledge of the stages by which 
the present has come to be what it is. 

Interpretative power in historical teaching is a third cri- 
terion. The teaching which trains in this power by daily in- 
struction is good. That which ignores or neglects it, and seeks 
only accumulation of fact, is poor. 

A fourth element in history instruction is historical judg- 
ment, i.e. judgment based wholly upon tested sources of infor- 
mation. 

The value in daily living of this kind of judgment is beyond 
estimation. Nothing is more common among children and un- 
cultivated persons than the proneness to accept at face value 
the statements of others, without checking up misinformation, 
without testing for possible error or intentional falsification. 
If the statement is one printed in a book, the tendency is 
greatly accentuated. Reverence for the printed page is well 
nigh instinctive in man. 

But what is the remedy for all this ? The remedy, or better 
the prophylactic, is some elementary training in historical criti- 
cism. Pupils in grammar grades and high schools should be 
given some exercise in testing the sources of information. 
They should discover from concrete examples how difficult 
a matter it is for anyone to tell the absolute truth. They 
should become familiar with various kinds of error, with the 
forms of historical bias. They should thru the study of orig- 
inal accounts observe the influence upon men's minds of dif- 
ferent forms of prejudice, — racial, sectional, political, religious, 
class, what not. They should learn thru history study to apply 
some of the simpler criteria for accuracy and sincerity. In 
these ways, they may be fortified against error and falsehood. 

But how to proceed. One may begin with cases of conflict- 
ing testimony in different accounts. Perhaps the most com- 
mon as well as the simplest is the conflicting report of what 
has occurred which appears daily in the newspapers. Rival 
newspapers, or competing news agencies, frequently carry 
highly contradictory accounts of happenings or opposing inter- 
pretations of public policies. Under proper direction, even 
children may readily discover the errors and point out the 



118 Indiana University 

reasons for overstatement in one case or suppression of details 
in another. A familiar case at present is found in the con- 
flicting official reports from the war zone. A brief consid- 
eration of modern methods of military censorship and of con- 
trol of means of transmission of reports will cast some light 
upon our problem and form an interesting and suggestive be- 
ginning of critical studies. 

Again, attention of pupils may easily be directed to con- 
flicting or contradictory statements in reference books of the 
simpler sort. Even textbooks often reveal in places sectional 
pride or bias in the authors. Indeed, high school students 
often speak of such contradictions and ask for the explana- 
tion. Here is the teacher's opportunity to awaken interest in 
historical criticism. 

Lastly, there is the resource of study of documentary ex- 
tracts for evidences and causes of error. Into this time does 
not permit that we should go in detail. But a portion of a 
speech of Demosthenes, a letter of Queen Elizabeth, a sermon 
by Latimer, may serve to reveal the hidden play of motive, 
the influence of circumstance or opinion of the writer. Such 
studies have untold value for the sort of training which may 
be claimed as distinctive for history. 

Our final standard, then, is the use of the historical judg- 
ment. The good teacher will make due provision for this train- 
ing, and the poor one will ignore one of the most important 
kinds of cultivation which may be claimed for history. 

In conclusion, and by way of summary, the standards by 
which the teacher may judge his or her own work in history 
will be not only the general teaching standards of motivation, 
organization, evaluation, and initiative, but the more distinctly 
characteristic standards which we have elaborated, viz., con- 
crete and objective teaching, application of historical truth to 
social and historical situations, analysis and interpretation of 
social phenomena, and the use of historical judgment. The 
writer is convinced that the approximation of these criteria 
by teachers of history in secondary schools will not only make 
history a more vital subject for children and youth, but will 
also be of material aid in making historical teaching one of 
the most important elements in training and equipment for 
the practical duties of daily living. 



'SSii 




